Effects of context and hearing status on word recogniticm in noise

Abstract

In a recent presentation to the Acoustical Society, we reported the effects of signal‐to‐babble ratio on speech recognition as a function of hearing status for several groups of normal‐hearing and hearing‐impaired listeners. In that report, we were able to demonstrate that the difficulty hearing‐impaired persons display in background noise is not a straightforward defecit. To resolve some of these difficulties, we report further analysis of these data in which the ratio of performance at one S/B to another i.e., +4dB/ +7dB, +1dB/ +4dB and +1 dB/ +7dB, is investigated. We have assumed that an ordered sequence of contextual cues can be constructed from the Modified Rhyme Test, CHABA sentences and the Speech Perception in Noise test. By taking the ratio of the performance at two signal‐to‐babble ratios, we observed that the normal‐hearing subjects and hearing‐impaired subjects perform more similarly as context increases (e.g., low‐context SPIN versus MRT). This results belies a simple “signal‐to‐noise defecit” as an explanation for the difficulties that hearing‐impaired subjects have recognizing speech in noise. [Work supported by NINCDS.]