Evaluating Communication Systems with Respect to Both Speech Intelligibility and Speaker Identification
Carl E. Williams, James D. Mosko · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1973
Communication systems which involve extensive speech processing may yield high intelligibility and yet fail to transmit characteristics associated with the talker (identity, vocal effort, expressive state, etc.). Some exploratory studies have been conducted to determine if the modified rhyme test (MRT) can be utilized to evaluate both the capability of communication systems to transmit intelligible speech and the features of talkers' voices that enable listeners to identify them. Tape recordings were made of each of five selected speakers reading different randomizations of MRT word lists. Single-speaker lists (50 words by a given speaker) and multiple-speaker lists (10 words by each of the five speakers, in random order) were constructed for presentation to listeners. Training tapes were also constructed to familiarize listeners with the speakers' voices. The training tapes and test tapes were processed through two vocoders and the output tapes, along with the unprocessed tapes, were presented to groups of listeners. Intelligibility scores obtained for the single-speaker and multiple-speaker lists and speaker identification scores will be presented and discussed.