Intelligibility differences between male and female bone conducted speech when presented in high noise environments
Maranda McBride, Meghan Leigh Hodges, Jon French · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2007
Clear and intelligible verbal communication is essential in many organizations. When designing verbal communication devices, developers must not only consider the electrical and mechanical components of the devices themselves, but also various parameters of both the listening environment and vocal signals being transmitted. Bone conduction communication devices have recently been introduced into several tactical organizations; however, the effectiveness of these devices in transmitting vocal signals has not yet been comprehensively explored. This paper describes a study investigating the impact of voice type (male and female), vibrator location (condyle of the jaw and mastoid process), and background noise level (0, 83, 93, and 103 dB(A) SPL) on the intelligibility of bone conducted verbal communication. The fundamental frequencies of the male and female voices were approximately 100 and 185 Hz, respectively. The background noise used in the study was pink noise. Six male and six female students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated in the study. The results of the study indicate significantly higher speech intelligibility scores for the male voice than for the female voice, and the condyle was significantly more effective than the mastoid in transmitting intelligible speech in each of the high noise environments tested.