Recognition memory in noise for speech of varying intelligibility

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which noise impacts normal-hearing young adults' speech processing of sentences that vary in intelligibility. Intelligibility and recognition memory in noise were examined for conversational and clear speech sentences recorded in quiet (quiet speech, QS) and in response to the environmental noise (noise-adapted speech, NAS). Results showed that (1) increased intelligibility through conversational-to-clear speech modifications led to improved recognition memory and (2) NAS presented a more naturalistic speech adaptation to noise compared to QS, leading to more accurate word recognition and enhanced sentence recognition memory. These results demonstrate that acoustic-phonetic modifications implemented in listener-oriented speech enhance speech-in-noise processing beyond word recognition. Effortful speech processing in challenging listening environments can thus be improved by speaking style adaptations on the part of the talker. In addition to enhanced intelligibility, a substantial improvement in recognition memory can be achieved through speaker adaptations to the environment and to the listener when in adverse conditions.