The use of automatic speech recognition showing the influence of nasality on speech intelligibility

Altered nasality influences speech intelligibility. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) has proved suitable for quantifying speech intelligibility in patients with different degrees of nasal emissions. We investigated the influence of hyponasality on the results of speech recognition before and after nasal surgery using ASR. Speech recordings, nasal peak inspiratory flow and self-perception measurements were carried out in 20 German-speaking patients (8 women, 12 men; aged 38 ± 22 years) who underwent surgery for various nasal and sinus pathologies. The degree of speech intelligibility was quantified as the percentage of correctly recognized words of a standardized word chain by ASR (word recognition rate; WR). WR was measured 1 day before (t1), 1 day after with nasal packings (t2), and 3 months after (t3) surgery; nasal peak flow on t1 and t3. WR was calculated with program for the automatic evaluation of all kinds of speech disorders (PEAKS). WR as a parameter of speech intelligibility was significantly decreased immediately after surgery (t1 vs. t2 p < 0.01) but increased 3 months after surgery (t2 vs. t3 p < 0.01). WR showed no association with age or gender. There was no significant difference between WR at t1 and t3, despite a post-operative increase in nasal peak inspiratory flow measurements. The results show that ASR is capable of quantifying the influence of hyponasality on speech; nasal obstruction leads to significantly reduced WR and nasal peak flow cannot replace evaluation of nasality.