1. The Effect of Talker and Listener Depressive Symptoms on Speech Intelligibility
- Author
-
Bharath Chandrasekaran, Rajka Smiljanic, and Hoyoung Yi
- Subjects
Auditory perception ,Male ,Linguistics and Language ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Acoustics and Ultrasonics ,Adolescent ,Acoustics ,Audiology ,Intelligibility (communication) ,Signal-To-Noise Ratio ,01 natural sciences ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,050105 experimental psychology ,Language and Linguistics ,Speech Acoustics ,Speech and Hearing ,Young Adult ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Hearing ,0103 physical sciences ,otorhinolaryngologic diseases ,medicine ,Speech ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Active listening ,Young adult ,010301 acoustics ,Depressive symptoms ,Depression ,05 social sciences ,Speech Intelligibility ,Informational masking ,Speaking style ,Word recognition ,Speech Perception ,Female ,Psychology ,Perceptual Masking ,psychological phenomena and processes - Abstract
Purpose This study examined the effect of depressive symptoms on production and perception of conversational and clear speech (CS) sentences. Method Five talkers each with high-depressive (HD) and low-depressive (LD) symptoms read sentences in conversational and clear speaking style. Acoustic measures of speaking rate, mean fundamental frequency (F0; Hz), F0 range (Hz), and energy in the 1–3 kHz range (dB) were obtained. Thirty-two young adult participants (15 HD, 16 LD) heard these conversational and clear sentences mixed with energetic masking (speech-shaped noise) at −5 dB SPL signal-to-noise ratio. Another group of 39 young adult participants (18 HD, 19 LD) heard the same sentences mixed with informational masking (one-talker competing speech) at −12 dB SPL signal-to-noise ratio. The key word correct score was obtained. Results CS was characterized by a decreased speaking rate, increased F0 mean and range, and increased energy in the 1–3 kHz range. Talkers with HD symptoms produced these modifications significantly less compared to talkers with LD symptoms. When listening to speech in energetic masking (speech-shaped noise), listeners with both HD and LD symptoms benefited less from the CS produced by HD talkers. Listeners with HD symptoms performed significantly worse than listeners with LD symptoms when listening to speech in informational masking (one-talker competing speech). Conclusions Results provide evidence that depressive symptoms impact intelligibility and have the potential to aid in clinical decision making for individuals with depression.
- Published
- 2019