Talker variability in word recognition under cochlear implant simulation: Does talker gender matter?

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Speech Perception
• Cochlear Implants

Background:

• Normal-hearing listeners struggle with word recognition when talkers change between trials.
• Cochlear implant (CI) users exhibit difficulties distinguishing same-gender and different-gender talkers, potentially impairing word recognition.
• Understanding the impact of talker variability is crucial for improving speech intelligibility in CI users.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of talker voice differences on word recognition accuracy in simulated cochlear implant (CI) hearing.
• To determine if talker variability, specifically multiple talkers of the same or different genders, impacts speech perception compared to a single talker.

Main Methods:

• Utilized acoustic noise-vocoder simulations to mimic cochlear implant (CI) hearing conditions.
• Compared word recognition accuracy across conditions with a single talker, multiple female talkers, and multiple female and male talkers.

Main Results:

• Word recognition accuracy was significantly lower when multiple female and male talkers were used compared to multiple female talkers or a single talker.
• Talker variability negatively affected word recognition accuracy under CI simulation, particularly when different-gender talkers were involved.

Conclusions:

• Talker variability poses a challenge to word recognition in simulated cochlear implant (CI) hearing.
• The detrimental effect of talker variability on word recognition is more pronounced with different-gender talkers in CI simulations.