Speech intelligibility in a virtual restaurant: Using a calibrated system to collect data remotely Free

Many individuals with hearing-impairment struggle to understand speech in complex environments, even when using appropriate amplification. A restaurant was simulated to better understand the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), reverberation time (T₆₀), wide-dynamic range compression (WDRC), and digital noise reduction (DNR) on speech intelligibility for listeners with hearing impairment. A virtual restaurant was created with six competing talkers in the environment and target talker in front. Spatialized audio was processed with a 16-band hearing aid simulation. SNR was jittered following a normal distribution (Mean = 0 dB, SD = 2). Two T₆₀’s (0.8 and 1.8s), two WDRC speeds (the fastest and slowest commercially available) and two DNR conditions (on or off) were the other factors. Three participants had participated in a sound booth when the COVID-19 pandemic affected ability to gather in-lab data. A new protocol was created to strike a balance between remote data collection and experimental control. Data for 25 additional participants were collected using a remote method with calibrated headphone and tablet system provided for the participant to use at home. The remote testing method will be discussed and data obtained using the headphone and tablet will be compared to in-booth data. [Work supported by NIH.]