Acoustic and perceptual correlates of subjectively rated sentence clarity in clear and conversational speech

Abstract

Young adults with normal hearing and older adults with hearing loss performed subjective ratings of speech clarity on sentences spoken by all 41 talkers of the Ferguson Clear Speech Database. The sentences were selected from the CID Everyday Sentence lists and were produced under instructions to speak in a conversational manner and in a clear speaking style. A different set of 14 sentences was recorded in each style. Rated clarity will be compared between the two listener groups as well as among subgroups of talkers who differ in demographic and other characteristics. Clarity data will also be analyzed in conjunction with perceptual and acoustic data obtained in other investigations to reveal the relationship between vowel intelligibility and sentence clarity as well as the acoustic features that underlie perceived sentence clarity for different listener groups.