Correlation study of predictive and descriptive metrics of speech intelligibility

Abstract

There exists a wide range of speech-intelligibility metrics, each of which is designed to encapsulate a different aspect of room acoustics that relates to speech intelligibility. This study reviews the different definitions of and correlations between various proposed speech intelligibility measures. Speech Intelligibility metrics can be grouped by two main uses: prediction of designed rooms and description of existing rooms. Two descriptive metrics still under investigation are Ease of Hearing and Acoustical Comfort. These are measured by a simple questionnaire, and their relationships with each other and with significant speech intelligibility metrics are explored. A variety of rooms are modeled and auralized in cooperation with a larger study, including classrooms, lecture halls, and offices. Auralized rooms are used to conveniently provide calculated metrics and cross-talk canceled auralizations for diagnostic and descriptive intelligibility tests. Rooms are modeled in CATT-Acoustic and auralized with a multi-channel speaker array in a hemi-anechoic chamber.