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The effects of noise vocoding on speech quality perception
Melinda C Anderson1, Kathryn H Arehart1, James M Kates1
1University of Colorado, Speech Language, Hearing Sciences, 2501 Kittredge Loop Road, 409 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
Hearing Research
|December 17, 2013
Summary
Temporal fine structure (TFS) significantly impacts speech quality perception, especially in quiet conditions. Both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals rated speech quality similarly when TFS was randomized.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Speech Perception
- Acoustic Signal Processing
Background:
- Speech perception relies on spectral and temporal acoustic cues.
- Temporal cues include temporal envelope (TE) and temporal fine structure (TFS).
- TFS involves rapid amplitude changes crucial for auditory processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the impact of TFS randomization on speech quality perception.
- To investigate the role of TFS in speech quality for individuals with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss.
- To determine if TFS's role in quality perception differs between hearing groups.
Main Methods:
- Speech stimuli were processed using a 32-channel noise-excited vocoder with varying degrees of TFS randomization.
- Stimuli included random envelope fluctuations, smoothed envelope, and high-frequency band removal.
- Participants (10 normal hearing, 10 hearing loss) rated speech quality in quiet and babble noise at different SNRs.
Main Results:
- TFS randomization detrimentally affected speech quality ratings, particularly in quiet.
- The detrimental effect of TFS randomization was less pronounced in babble noise.
- Quality ratings were similar between normal-hearing and sensorineural hearing-impaired subjects.
Conclusions:
- TFS plays a significant role in perceived speech quality, especially in ideal listening conditions.
- The contribution of TFS to speech quality perception is comparable between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.
- Noise vocoding effectively manipulates TFS, providing insights into auditory processing limitations.
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