Document Detail


Gain-induced speech distortions and the absence of intelligibility benefit with existing noise-reduction algorithms.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21895096     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Most noise-reduction algorithms used in hearing aids apply a gain to the noisy envelopes to reduce noise interference. The present study assesses the impact of two types of speech distortion introduced by noise-suppressive gain functions: amplification distortion occurring when the amplitude of the target signal is over-estimated, and attenuation distortion occurring when the target amplitude is under-estimated. Sentences corrupted by steady noise and competing talker were processed through a noise-reduction algorithm and synthesized to contain either amplification distortion, attenuation distortion or both. The attenuation distortion was found to have a minimal effect on speech intelligibility. In fact, substantial improvements (> 80 percentage points) in intelligibility, relative to noise-corrupted speech, were obtained when the processed sentences contained only attenuation distortion. When the amplification distortion was limited to be smaller than 6 dB, performance was nearly unaffected in the steady-noise conditions, but was severely degraded in the competing-talker conditions. Overall, the present data suggest that one reason that existing algorithms do not improve speech intelligibility is because they allow amplification distortions in excess of 6 dB. These distortions are shown in this study to be always associated with masker-dominated envelopes and should thus be eliminated.
Authors:
Gibak Kim; Philipos C Loizou
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America     Volume:  130     ISSN:  1520-8524     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Acoust. Soc. Am.     Publication Date:  2011 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-09-07     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7503051     Medline TA:  J Acoust Soc Am     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1581     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080.
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