Intelligibility of temporally interrupted speech with and without intervening noise

Abstract

Experiments were performed to examine changes in the intelligibility of temporally interrupted sentences when white noise was introduced during the speech–free interval. In experiment 1, listeners received the test material under two conditions at five interruption rates ranging from 0.77 to 3.85 interruptions per second (ips). In one instance the speech-free interval was silent, while in the other it was switched to noise of the same average level as the speech. Experiment 2 examined the intelligibility of the speech message as a function of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The switching rate was held constant at 1.5 ips and the S/N ratio was varied from −30 to +18 dB. Results indicated that for the particular interruption conditions selected, speech switched to noise is significantly more intelligible than speech interrupted by silence. In addition, intelligibility of the interrupted sentences in the presence of intervening noise varies with the S/N ratio.

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