Clear Speech Characteristics for Hearing Aids Applications

Hector A. Martinez hmartinez@hntb.com 813-4775401	Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 6:00 PM
	Meeting Description Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and Co-Sponsor Signal Processing and Communications Societies Joint Meeting Topic: Evaluating the role of spectral and envelope characteristics in the intelligibility advantage of clear speech Main Speaker: Dr. Jean Krause Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders, USF. Date: October 15, 2008 Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm Location: College of Engineering University of South Florida 4202 East Fowler Avenue ENB 109 Tampa, FL 33620-5350 Cost: Free FYI: Sandwishes and Softdrinks will be provided to all attendees that reserve their space. Please contact Ravi Sankar (sankar@eng.usf.edu) or Hector Martinez (hmartinez@HNTB.com) if you have any questions.
	Additional Information ABSTRACT: In adverse listening conditions, talkers can increase their intelligibility by speaking clearly. This modified speaking style, known as clear speech, is typically spoken more slowly than conversational speech. Clear speech has some inherent acoustic properties, independent of rate, that contribute to its improved intelligibility. Identifying these acoustic properties could lead to improved signal processing schemes for hearing aids. Two properties that appear likely to be associated with improved intelligibility are increased energy in the 1000--3000-Hz range and increased depth of low-frequency modulations of the intensity envelope. Intelligibility testing with hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners in noise suggest that 1) increasing energy between 1000-Hz and 3000-Hz does not fully account for the benefit of clear/normal speech, and 2) simple filtering of the intensity envelope is generally detrimental to intelligibility. While other manipulations of the intensity envelope are required to determine conclusively the role of this factor in intelligibility, it is also likely that additional properties important for highly intelligible speech at normal rates remain to be identified.
	Meeting Location College of Engineering, USF 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa
	This reservation service is provided by Time2Meet.com.