Amplitude Compression. I. Speech Intelligibility in Quiet with Normal and Pathological Hearing Groups
Steven W. Vargo, Raymond T. Carhart · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1973
The theoretical contribution of amplitude compression to the enhancement of speech intelligibility for pathological hearing groups remains unresolved. Previous investigations by Caraway and Carhart [J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 41, 1424 (1967)] and Burchfield et al. (1971) have shown contradictory findings on this topic. Although this study essentially replicates the two previous investigations, it employs a more advanced compressor system with an instantaneous attack time (100 nsec); moreover, word triplets are delivered to listeners at three sensation levels (SLs), 10, 20, and 30 dB. The findings are discussed in terms of previous studies as well as in the usability of amplitude-compressed phonemic information at low SLs. [Supported by Special Research Fellowship Grant of NINDS.]