Binaural Recordings in Natural Acoustic Environments: Estimates of Speech-Likeness and Interaural Parameters.
S Theo Goverts, H Steven Colburn
PMID 33331242WHAT IT FOUND
Everyday binaural recordings varied greatly over time and between ears, and many moments had low speech information in one ear or both ears.
Clinic tests using clear, steady speech may not capture this variability.
Key findings
01Speech-like signal varied substantially over time and differed between ears across the natural binaural recordings.
02Highly coherent binaural time-slices were rare in natural recordings, at 0.5 to 15.5%, compared with 44% and 35% in virtual target-masker conditions.
03Public transport environments had the lowest speech-like values and the smallest ear-to-ear differences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The paper reports signal analysis of recordings and simulations, not a clinical trial, patient outcome, or hearing-aid comparison. No total number of participants was given, and the natural recordings came from eight environments. The relation between speech-likeness and speech intelligibility was approximate and mainly based on previous speech-in-noise tests with LTASS noise. Some natural time-slices may have contained no speech or no communication situation, because the measure was automated. Subjective impressions of dominant sources were based on listening, not formal measurements. Virtual comparisons used symmetrical head-related transfer functions and a simple room model, not real human head differences.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Much of the work was supported by the Hearing Industry Research Consortium, which supported the primary recordings, simulations, and analyses. Work was also supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIDCD Grant DC000100).
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that bilateral hearing aids, remote microphones, or new speech tests are proven to improve everyday communication. The paper analysed binaural recordings and simulations; it did not test patients, devices, or outcomes, and the fitting suggestions rest on exploratory signal measures.