Long term average speech spectra of Turkish

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Acoustics

Background:

• Long-term average speech spectra (LTASS) are crucial for voice analysis in hearing aid fitting, speaker recognition, and voice disorder assessment.
• Existing LTASS evaluations cover various languages, but a comprehensive analysis for Turkish has been lacking.
• Understanding language-specific spectral characteristics is vital for accurate voice analysis applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct an LTASS analysis for the Turkish language.
• To generate normative LTASS values for Turkish speakers.
• To compare the Turkish LTASS curve with those of other languages and analyze gender-based spectral differences.

Main Methods:

• LTASS analysis was performed on 40 healthy adult Turkish speakers with normal hearing and speech.
• Speech signals were analyzed to determine long-term spectral shape.
• Statistical analysis was used to compare spectral differences between genders and overall LTASS.

Main Results:

• The study generated normative LTASS values for the Turkish language.
• The Turkish LTASS curve exhibits similarities to, yet also distinct differences from, LTASS curves reported for other languages.
• Statistically significant spectral differences were observed between male and female speakers.

Conclusions:

• The generated Turkish LTASS data provides valuable normative information.
• The findings suggest that while generally similar, language-specific LTASS variations exist and should be considered.
• The study recommends utilizing these generated speech signals in hearing aid fitting procedures for Turkish speakers.