• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2005

The purpose of the present study were (1) to assess differences in tongue performances and speech intelligibility between normal and dysarthric speakers; and (2) to analyze the possible interrelationships between tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility in dysarthric patients. In order to measure maximum strength of anterior and lateral tongue strength, a force transducer has been designed. And a ruler was used for guaging range of motion. 'Word intelligibility test' was administered to each group. The results were analyzed by a quantitative statistical method(t test, Pearson product- moment correlation, and one-way ANOVA). The results were as follows; (1) dysarthric speakers showed significantly poorer performance than the normal in the tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility tasks; (2) the correlation between speech intelligibility and instrumental tongue performance was high in the dysarthric group; and (3) instrumental assessment was coincide with perceptual judgement of dysarthric tongue performance. The present investigation demonstrated that tongue weakness is causally related to articulation deficits in dysarthric. The clinical use of the force transducer would help a speech pathologist to quantify the degree of tongue weakness.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of manipulating loudness and pitch in terms of speech intelligibility and voice of a patient with Parkinson's Disease. The subject, who was diagnosed as a patient with Parkinson's disease 11 years ago, demonstrated a severely breath voice with low intensity. The accuracy of articulation in consonants was intelligible only at the single word level, and the overall intelligibility in continuous speech was low. The results showed that the subject's articulation accuracy and speech intelligibility was significantly improved after having loudness and pitch training. Habitual Fo, Jitter, Shimmer, Fo tremor, Amp tremor were decreased after training. In addition, the value of HNR also increased after training. It was shown that the changes of these acoustic parameters were closely related to the decrease of breathiness in Parkinson's voice, and this decrease of breathiness affected speech intelligibility considerably. Based on the experimental results, it was claimed that the vocal training by manipulating the loudness and pitch could be highly effective in improving the voice quality and speech intelligibility in Parkinson's Disease.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.63-70
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• 2007

It is known that early reflections, their energy and delay times after the arrival of direct sound are important factors for speech intelligibility. In this basis, acoustical parameters like D50 and C80 had been proposed and are widely used for assessing the listening condition of rooms. These parameters are focused on the fraction of the early energy to the total, regardless of the spatial characteristics of the early reflections. This means that all the early reflections, arrived in certain time boundary. from front, behind, down and upside have the same impact on speech intelligibility. From the questionable simplicity, the influence of the direction of early reflections on speech intelligibility is examined in this study. A computer simulation speech intelligibility test, conducted for 22 university students, found that the reflection of vertical direction with method of the Paired comparison also the preference of 0.746 degree was visible an increase.

• MALSORI
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• no.61
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• pp.1-14
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between segmental correctness and speech intelligibility in adults with hearing impairment. Segmental correctness was measured by percentage of correct vowels(PCV) and percentage of correct consonants(PCC). The results were shown as follows: First, PCV and PCC could predict speech intelligibility with statistical significance. Second, in consonant classes divided by place and manner of articulation, the PCC of plosives and alveolar sounds were significant predicting variables in each group ($R^{2}=50%;\;59%$). According to this study, the importance of segmental correctness on speech intelligibility of adults with hearing impairment was confirmed. Also correctness of plosive sounds in manner and alveolar sounds in place were significant factors to speech intelligibility.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2011

The current study investigated the effects of experience of deaf speech, severity of speaker's articulation, and linguistic cues on speech intelligibility of congenitally deafened adults with cochlear implants. Speech intelligibility was judged by 28 experienced listeners and 40 inexperienced listeners using a word transcription task. A three-way (2 $\times$ 2 $\times$ 4) mixed design was used with the experience of deaf speech (experienced/inexperienced listener) as a between-subject factor, the severity of speaker's articulation (mild to moderate/moderate to severe), and linguistic cues (no/phonetic/semantic/combined) as within-subject factors. The dependent measure was the number of correctly transcribed words. Results revealed that three main effects were statistically significant. Experienced listeners showed better performance on the transcription than inexperienced listeners, and listeners were better in transcribing speakers who were mild to moderate than moderate to severe. There were significant differences in speech intelligibility among the four different types of cues, showing that the combined cues provided the greatest enhancement of the intelligibility scores (combined > semantic > phonological > no). Three two-way interactions were statistically significant, indicating that the type of cues and severity of speakers differentiated experienced listeners from inexperienced listeners. The current results suggested that the use of a combination of linguistic cues increased the speech intelligibility of congenitally deafened adults with cochlear implants, and the experience of deaf speech was critical especially in evaluating speech intelligibility of severe speakers compared to that of mild speakers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.150-155
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• 2006

Speech intelligibility is investigated on a conference room-window glass coupled system. Using MLS(Maximum Length Sequency) signal as a sound source, acceleration and velocity responses of the window glass are measured by accelerometer and laser doppler vibrometer. MTF(Modulation Transfer Function) is used to identify the speech transmission characteristics of the room and window system. STI(Speech Transmission Index) is calculated by using MTF and speech intelligibility of the room and the window glass is estimated. Speech intelligibilities by the acceleration signal and the velocity signal are compared and the possibility of the wiretapping is investigated. Finally, intelligibility of the conversation sound is examined by the subjective test.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.888-894
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• 2007

The speech sound is detected by the vibration measurement of the window glass. In this study, we investigate the effect of the disturbing waves by background noise and window shaker excitation on the speech intelligibility of the detected sound. Based upon Modulation Transfer Function(MTF), speech intelligibility of the sound is objectively estimated by Speech Transmission Index(STI) As the level of the disturbing wave varies, variation of the speech intelligibility is examined. Experimental result reveals how STI is influenced by the level and frequency characteristics of the disturbing wave. By using a customized window shaker for disturbing sound, we evaluate the efficiency and the frequency characteristics of the anti-eavesdropping system. The purpose of the study is to provide useful information to prevent the eavesdropping through the window glass.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.197-202
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• 2013

Large gains in speech intelligibility can be obtained using the SNR-based binary mask approach. This approach retains the time-frequency (T-F) units of the mixture signal, where the target signal is stronger than the interference noise (masker) (e.g., SNR > 0 dB), and removes the T-F units, where the interfering noise is dominant. This paper introduces two alternative binary masks based on the distortion constraints to improve the speech intelligibility. The distortion constraints are induced by a gain function for estimating the short-time spectral amplitude. One binary mask is designed to retain the speech underestimated (T-F) units while removing the speech overestimated (T-F)units. The other binary mask is designed to retain the noise overestimated (T-F) units while removing noise underestimated (T-F) units. Listening tests with oracle binary masks were conducted to assess the potential of the two binary masks in improving the intelligibility. The results suggested that the two binary masks based on distortion constraints can provide large gains in intelligibility when applied to noise-corrupted speech.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.193-212
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• 2010

The purpose of our study was to provide effective speech evaluation items examining the variables of speech that successfully predict the speech intelligibility in CP children. The subjects were 55 children with spastic type cerebral palsy. As for the speech evaluation, we performed a speech subsystem evaluation and a speech intelligibility test. The results of the study are as follows. The evaluation task for the speech subsystems consisted of 48 task items within an observational evaluation stage and three levels of severity. The levels showed correlations with gross motor functions, fine motor functions, and age. Second, the evaluation items for the speech subsystems were rearranged into seven factors. Third, 34 out of 48 task items that positively correlated with the syllable intelligibility rating were as follows. There were four items in the observational evaluation stage. Among the nonverbal articulatory function evaluation items, there were 11 items in level one. There were 12 items in level two. In level three there were eight items. Fourth, there were 23 items among the 48 evaluation tasks that correlated with the sentence intelligibility rating. There was one item in the observational evaluation stage which was in the articulatory structure evaluation task. In level one there were six items. In level two, there were eight items. In level three, there was a total number of eight items. Fifth, there was a total number of 14 items that influenced the syllable intelligibility rating. Sixth, there was a total number of 13 items that influenced the syllable intelligibility rating. According to the results above, the variables that influenced the speech intelligibility of CP children among the articulatory function tasks were in the respiratory function task, phonatory function task, and lip and chin related tasks. We did not find any correlation for the tongue function. The results of our study could be applied to speech evaluation, setting therapy goals, and evaluating the degree of progression in children with CP. We only studied children with the spastic type of cerebral palsy, and there were a small number of severe degree CP children compared to those with a moderate degree of CP. Therefore, when evaluating children with other degrees of severity, we may have to take their characteristics more into account. Further study on speech evaluation variables in relation to the severity of the speech intelligibility and different types of cerebral palsy may be necessary.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

This study examined the effects of phonetic complexity and articulatory severity on Percentage of Correct Consonant (PCC) and speech intelligibility in adults with dysarthria. Speech samples of thirty-two words from APAC (Assessment of Phonology and Articulation of Children) were collected from 38 dysarthric speakers with one of two different levels of articulatory severities (mild or mild-moderate). A PCC and speech intelligibility score was calculated by the 4 levels of phonetic complexity. Two-way mixed ANOVA analysis revealed: (1) the group with mild severity showed significantly higher PCC and speech intelligibility scores than the mild-moderate articulatory severity group, (2) PCC at the phonetic complexity level 4 was significantly lower than those at the other levels and (3) an interaction effect of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity was observed only on the PCC. Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated the degree of correlation between PCC and speech intelligibility varied depending on the level of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity. The clinical implications of the findings were discussed.