Arsenault M D, Punch J L
Department of Audiology and speech Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 1999 Mar;105(3):1821-30. doi: 10.1121/1.426720.
Using a binaurally equipped KEMAR manikin, syllables of the CUNY Nonsense Syllable Test were recorded in sound field at 0-degree azimuth against a background of cafeteria noise at 270-degrees azimuth, at several signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. The combination of inputs recorded at each ear was delivered to ten normal-hearing (NH) and eight sensorineurally hearing impaired (HI) listeners through insert ear phones to produce five experimental listening conditions: (1) binaural head shadow (HS), in which ear presentation was analogous to the original stimulus recording, (2) binaural favorable (BF), in which the noise-shadowed (right-ear) recording was presented to both ears, (3) monaural favorable (MF), in which the noise-shadowed recording was presented only to the right ear, (4) monoaural unfavorable (MU), in which the noise-unshadowed (left ear) recording was presented only to the left ear, and (5) simulated monoaural aided (SMA), in which the noise-shadowed recording was presented to the right ear and the noise-unshadowed recording--attenuated by 20 dB relative to the HS condition--was presented to the left ear. All main effects (subject type, listening condition, and S/N ratio) were statistically significant. Normal listeners showed 3.3- and 3.2-dB advantages, respectively, due to head-shadow and binaural squelch, over hearing-impaired listeners. Some hearing-impaired listeners performed better under the SMA or BF conditions than under the HS condition. Potential digital signal processing strategies designed to optimize speech understanding under binaurally aided listening conditions are discussed.
使用配备双耳的KEMAR人体模型，在0度方位角的声场中，以270度方位角的自助餐厅噪音为背景，在几个信噪比（S/N）下记录了纽约城市大学无意义音节测试的音节。将每只耳朵记录的输入组合通过插入式耳机传送给10名听力正常（NH）和8名感音神经性听力受损（HI）的听众，以产生五种实验性聆听条件：（1）双耳头影（HS），其中耳朵呈现类似于原始刺激记录；（2）双耳有利（BF），其中将噪声遮蔽（右耳）记录呈现给双耳；（3）单耳有利（MF），其中将噪声遮蔽记录仅呈现给右耳；（4）单耳不利（MU），其中将无噪声遮蔽（左耳）记录仅呈现给左耳；（5）模拟单耳辅助（SMA），其中将噪声遮蔽记录呈现给右耳，将无噪声遮蔽记录（相对于HS条件衰减20 dB）呈现给左耳。所有主要效应（受试者类型、聆听条件和信噪比）均具有统计学意义。正常听众由于头影和双耳静噪，分别比听力受损听众表现出3.3 dB和3.2 dB的优势。一些听力受损听众在SMA或BF条件下的表现优于HS条件。讨论了旨在优化双耳辅助聆听条件下语音理解的潜在数字信号处理策略。
