Instrumental measures of speech intelligibility typically produce an index between 0 and 1 that is monotonically related to listening test scores. As such, these measures are dimensionless and do not represent physical quantities. In this paper, we propose a new instrumental intelligibility metric that describes speech intelligibility using bits per second. The proposed metric builds upon an ex...

In the present investigation, the intelligibility of 17 Scandinavian language varieties (including standard Danish) was assessed among young Danes from Copenhagen. In addition, distances between standard Danish and each of the 17 varieties were measured at the lexical level and at different phonetic levels. In order to determine how well these linguistic levels can predict intelligibility, we c...

Speech intelligibility of two types of vocoders was measured using the modified rhyme test. One type of vocoder, a continuous variable slope delta (CVSD), was a waveform encoder. The other type, an advanced multi-band excitation (AMBE), was a parametric encoder. In the first experiment, clear speech was processed through the vocoders. Intelligibility was measured in a control condition, i.e. wi...

We introduce a novel method to diagnose pronunciation errors that are most critical to the intelligibility of L2 learners. A preliminary study showed that error rates computed by a speech recognition-based system can be used to characterize intelligibility. We deduce a probabilistic algorithm to derive intelligibility from error rates. We also define an error priority function that indicates wh...

We introduce a novel method to diagnose pronunciation errors that are most critical to the intelligibility of L2 learners. A prelimiary study showed that error rates computed by a speech recognition-based system can be used to characterize intelligibility. We deduce a probabilistic algorithm to derive intelligibility from error rates. We also define an error priority function that indicates whi...

Dysarthria is a common manifestation in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. This study investigated the effects of levodopa on intelligibility in patients with Parkinson's disease. Ten participants were tested during on- and off-states using the Yorkston and Beukelman intelligibility test (1980). Intelligibility as scored by a panel of speech therapists was significantly improved in t...

This critical review examines the effect of delayed auditory feedback (DAF) on speech intelligibility in Parkinson’s disease. Each of the eight articles included in this review examines speech rate and intelligibility with the use of DAF in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Three of the eight articles found positive effects on intelligibility with the use of DAF and five of the eight articles ...

Intelligibility is generally accepted to be a very relevant measure in the assessment of pathological speech. In clinical practice, intelligibility is measured using one of the many existing perceptual tests. These tests usually have the drawback that they employ unnatural speech material (e.g. nonsense words) and that they cannot fully exclude errors due to the listener's bias. This raises the...

The intelligibility of vocoded speech with various phase spectra was compared to the intelligibility of the original input natural speech. It was found that vocoded speech with true natural phase was the closest to natural speech in intelligibility.

A great number of rooms are dedicated to a voice communication between a singular speaker and a group of listeners. Those rooms could be as small as meeting room and classrooms or larger like auditoriums and theatres. There is a major demand for them to assure the highest possible speech intelligibility for all listeners in the room. Classrooms are an example of rooms where a very good speech i...