Extended High Frequencies Provide Both Spectral and Temporal Information to Improve Speech-in-Speech Recognition.
Allison Trine, Brian B Monson
PMID 33345755WHAT IT FOUND
Young normal-hearing adults recognized target speech better when extended high frequencies were available, and when competing talkers were turned slightly away.
Temporal high-frequency cues helped, and adding spectral detail helped further.
Key findings
01Speech-in-speech recognition was better when extended high frequencies were available: mean speech reception thresholds were -9.7 dB for full-band speech, -9.2 dB for temporal extended high-frequency cues only, and -8.3 dB when extended high frequencies were removed.
02Speech-in-speech recognition was better when both maskers faced 60 degrees than when they faced 45 degrees: mean speech reception thresholds were -9.7 dB and -8.4 dB, respectively.
03Full-band performance was most related to pure-tone thresholds at 12.5 kHz and 16 kHz.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used Forty-one young adults with normal hearing, so it does not show what happens in people with hearing loss or in patients. Performance was measured in a sound-treated booth with recorded two-talker babble, not in real-world conversations. The relationship between extended high-frequency hearing thresholds and speech performance was exploratory. The authors state that the idea of phonetic information at extended high frequencies has not been shown definitively.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that extended high-frequency hearing tests or hearing-aid changes will improve patients' speech-in-noise recognition. The participants were Forty-one normal-hearing young adults, the task was laboratory speech-in-speech recognition, and the authors did not test a clinical treatment.