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Speech Recognition and Noise Adaptation in Realistic Noises.
Miriam I Marrufo-Pérez1,2, Enrique A Lopez-Poveda1,2,3
1Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León (INCYL), Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
Trends in Hearing
|May 15, 2025
Summary
Noise adaptation in speech recognition improves word recognition as words are delayed from noise onset. This study found adaptation occurs even with realistic noises, independent of noise characteristics.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Speech Perception
- Psychoacoustics
Background:
- Adaptation to noise enhances speech recognition when words are presented after noise onset.
- Previous research primarily used synthetic noises, limiting understanding of adaptation in real-world environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate noise adaptation using realistic masking sounds.
- To determine the influence of noise spectral and level fluctuation characteristics on adaptation.
Main Methods:
- Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for natural and tone-vocoded words with varying delays (50 ms and 800 ms) from noise onset.
- Forty-nine realistic and synthetic noises were analyzed; six representative noises were selected.
- Adaptation was quantified as SRT improvement in the late versus early condition.
Main Results:
- For natural speech, adaptation was minimal (0.5 dB) and consistent across noises.
- Significant adaptation (1.3 dB) was observed for vocoded speech across all tested realistic noises.
- The degree of adaptation was not dependent on the spectral or level fluctuation properties of the noise.
Conclusions:
- Noise adaptation in speech recognition is possible in realistic noisy settings.
- Adaptation effects are more pronounced for processed (vocoded) speech compared to natural speech.
- Noise characteristics like spectral content and level fluctuations do not significantly impact the extent of adaptation observed.
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