Frequency compression/transposition of fricative consonants for the hearing impaired with high-frequency dead regions
نویسندگان
چکیده
In this paper we present the first evaluation results of a carefully designed piecewise linear frequency compression curve, to improve the recognition of fricative consonants, for patients with high-frequency dead regions in the cochlea. Our original frequency compression/transposition algorithm takes into account the average short-time spectrum of the most frequent Brazilian Portuguese fricatives. A specific speech material, composed by twenty four different monosyllables spoken by eight speakers (four male and four female), was recorded for a consonant discrimination test. The algorithm was tested over ten normal hearing listeners with simulated dead regions above 1500 and 2000 Hz. One-way and two-way ANOVA results have shown a statistical significant improvement in the correct identification of fricatives in initial syllabic position.
منابع مشابه
Effects of frequency compression and frequency transposition on fricative and affricate perception in listeners with normal hearing and mild to moderate hearing loss.
OBJECTIVES The authors have demonstrated that the limited bandwidth associated with conventional hearing aid amplification prevents useful high-frequency speech information from being transmitted. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of two popular frequency-lowering algorithms and one novel algorithm (spectral envelope decimation) in adults with mild to moderate sensorineural ...
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Speakers may adapt the phonetic details of their productions when they anticipate perceptual difficulty or comprehension failure on the part of a listener. Previous research suggests that a speaking style known as clear speech is more intelligible overall than casual, conversational speech for a variety of listener populations. However, it is unknown whether clear speech improves the intelligib...
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In sensorineural hearing loss, damage to inner hair cells or the auditory nerve may result in dead regions in the cochlea, where the information transmission is disrupted. In cochlear implants, similar dead regions might appear if the spiral ganglia do not function. Shannon et al. [J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. 3, 185-199 (2002)] simulated dead regions of varying size and location using a noiseba...
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