Speech intelligibility with various head-related transfer functions: A computational modelling approach

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Acoustics
• Psychoacoustics

Background:

• Speech intelligibility (SI) depends on spatial arrangements of sound sources.
• Spatial hearing benefits are linked to the head-related transfer function (HRTF).
• HRTFs exhibit significant inter-individual variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of individual HRTFs on speech intelligibility.
• To model SI predictions across different HRTFs and spatial configurations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an auditory model to predict SI thresholds.
• Simulated various HRTFs and sound source angles on the horizontal plane.

Main Results:

• Predicted SI thresholds varied substantially across different HRTFs.
• Individual HRTFs demonstrably influence the accessibility of spatial cues for SI.

Conclusions:

• Listener-specific HRTFs play a crucial role in determining speech intelligibility.
• Personalized auditory models are necessary for accurate SI prediction.