Normal hearing and verbal discrimination in real sounds environments.
Adriana Lodeiro Colatosti1, Ignacio Pla Gil2, Antonio Morant Ventura2
1Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital General Universitario de Castellón, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.
Acta Otorrinolaringologica Espanola
|June 22, 2024
Summary
Complex acoustic environments challenge normal hearing individuals, decreasing speech discrimination, especially in noisy or multi-speaker settings. Phonetic analysis revealed specific difficulties with vowels and consonants in these conditions.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception and speech processing
- Acoustic environment analysis
- Phonetics and phonology
Background:
- Human hearing is constantly challenged by complex acoustic environments.
- Speech perception is influenced by numerous factors beyond the acoustic signal itself.
- Understanding these challenges is crucial for individuals with normal hearing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the auditory capacity of normal hearing individuals in discriminating spoken words under real-world acoustic conditions.
- To perform a phonetic analysis of misunderstood words in various sound environments.
- To investigate the impact of acoustic complexity on speech intelligibility.
Main Methods:
- A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study involving 20 normal hearing participants.
- Verbal audiometry conducted in an open-field, simulated real-world acoustic environments.
- Analysis included percentage of correct answers and phonetic analysis of errors, with visual aids enhancing sound emission.
Main Results:
- Speech discrimination decreased significantly in 'Traffic' (86.2%) and 'Restaurant' (94%) environments compared to 'Ocean' (97.2%).
- Phonetic analysis identified significant differences in the perception of specific phonemes, including vowels ([o]), nasal consonants ([n]), voiced fricatives ([r]), and voiced stops ([b], [g]).
- The 'Traffic' noise particularly affected nasal consonant identification, while 'Restaurant' noise impacted vowels and voiced consonants.
Conclusions:
- The dynamic properties of acoustic environments significantly impact speech intelligibility for normal hearing individuals.
- Increased acoustic complexity, such as background noise and competing speech, reduces the ability to extract information from voice signals.
- Specific phonemes are more susceptible to degradation in different types of acoustic masking, highlighting areas for targeted auditory training or technological intervention.
Keywords:
Audición en ruidoAuditory outcomesEntornos sonorosFonéticaIntelegibilidadIntelligibilityNormal hearingNormoacusiaPhoneme recognitionPhoneticRealistic environmentSpeech in noiseMore Related Videos
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