Acoustic correlates of vowel intelligibility in clear and conversational speech for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The present investigation carried out acoustic analyses of vowels in clear and conversational speech produced by 41 talkers. Mixed-effects models were then deployed to examine relationships among acoustic and perceptual data for these vowels. Acoustic data include vowel duration, steady-state formant frequencies, and two measures of dynamic formant movement. Perceptual data consist of vowel intelligibility in noise for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners, as reported by Ferguson in 2004 and 2012 [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116, 2365-2373 (2004); J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 55, 779-790 (2012)], respectively. Significant clear speech effects were observed for all acoustic metrics, although not all measures changed for all vowels and considerable talker variability was observed. Mixed-effects analyses revealed that the contribution of duration and steady-state formant information to vowel intelligibility differed for the two listener groups. This outcome is consistent with earlier research suggesting that hearing loss, and possibly aging, alters the way acoustic cues are used for identifying vowels.
DOI: 10.1121/1.4874596
Authors: Sarah Hargus Ferguson, Hugo Quené
Institutions: University of Utah, Utrecht University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G1717607497, G2183947271, G2872536077, PERCEPTION OF SPEECH BY NORMAL AND IMPAIRED LISTENERS, G4153205649, Acoustic Correlates of Clear Speech, Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (KIDDRC), Core Center for BioBehavioral Sciences of Communication Disorders, G9000117887, G9000188727
OpenAlex ID: W1978663662