Speech Reception in Reverberation Related to Temporal Resolution

Abstract

In this study, the influence of temporal properties of the auditory system on speech recognition, either in noise or in both noise and reverberation, has been investigated. Temporal resolution parameters consisted of both the temporal resolution factor (TRF) and the minimum detectable gap (MDG). TRFs were measured for probe-tone frequencies of 500, 1000, and 3000 Hz; MDGs were measured for octave-band noises centered at 500, 1000, and 3000 Hz and for a wideband noise. TRF and MDG proved to be rather independent parameters of temporal resolution. For both temporal-resolution parameters, there was considerable overlap between the performance of the normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. A correlation analysis shows that MDG for wideband noise is related to speech recognition in reverberation. However, there is a mutual dependence of speech recognition and MDG on the pure-tone audiogram.