Speech Intelligibility in Reverberation is Reduced During Self-Rotation.
Ľuboš Hládek, Bernhard U Seeber
PMID 37475460WHAT IT FOUND
For people with normal hearing, turning towards a speaker behind them improves understanding, but turning towards someone to the side worsens it.
A visual cue helps with side targets but not rear ones, suggesting motion itself can degrade clarity in reverberant rooms.
Key findings
01Speech intelligibility increased during self-rotations for rear targets but not for lateral or frontal targets compared to a static baseline.
02The presence of a visual cue (an avatar) improved speech intelligibility for lateral targets but not for rear targets.
03Participants tended to undershoot the target location when rotating, often stopping at an off-target angle that may have been acoustically optimal or socially polite.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only nine participants, all young adults with normal hearing, so results may not apply to older adults or those with hearing loss. The acoustic environment was a simulation of a specific reverberant room; real-world environments vary. The speech intelligibility model used overestimated actual performance, suggesting the model does not fully account for the negative effects of fast motion (binaural sluggishness). Participants were instructed to behave naturally, but the lab setting and tablet interface may have influenced their movement strategies.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The work was funded by German research foundations (DFG and BMBF).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that turning towards a speaker always helps. This study found that while turning to the rear improved clarity, turning to the side actually reduced intelligibility for normal-hearing young adults. The benefit of movement depends heavily on the direction of the sound source.