Quality judgments of hearing aid transduced speech.

Abstract

Frequency range, harmonic distortion, intermodulation distortion, and transient response measurements were made on five aids which manifested varying amounts of each property. Effects of these properties upon judgments of quality were studied to determine which property was most predictive of quality judgments and whether or not voice interacts with electroacoustic properties. The speech of male and female talkers was recorded through these aids, and paired comparison judgments were made by 30 normal-hearing listeners. Transient response was the best predictor of listener judgments, and voice may be a factor in the quality judgment task.