Measuring Speech Intelligibility with Romanian Synthetic Unpredictable Sentences in Normal Hearing

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech-language pathology
• Psychoacoustics

Background:

• Speech perception in noise is challenging for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals.
• Developing standardized Romanian speech material for noise assessment is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate Romanian speech material for assessing speech perception in noise.
• To create a versatile tool for diverse auditory populations and rehabilitation studies.

Main Methods:

• Developed Romanian sentences using speech synthesis from all phonemes.
• Collected data from 20 normal-hearing volunteers using adaptive and fixed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) tests.
• Assessed speech recognition threshold (SRT) and psychometric function slope.

Main Results:

• A training effect was observed after two lists, indicating material familiarity.
• The fixed SNR method yielded a mean SRT50 of -7.38 dB and a slope of 11.39%.
• Results demonstrated reliable and comparable data for general and clinical use.

Conclusions:

• The developed Romanian speech material is effective for evaluating speech recognition in noise.
• Normative data for SRT and slope were established.
• The material's flexible design supports future development for various auditory rehabilitation methods and populations.