Word intelligibility decrements and the comprehension of time-compressed speech.

The extent to which decreased comprehension of time-compressed messages results from decreased word intelligibility was investigated. Experiment 1, in which 500-word messages were temporally interrupted, demonstrated that when 60% of the signal is deleted, comprehension is reduced even without the temporal limitations of compression. Experiment 2, which employed a backward masking procedure, demonstrated that individually compressed words are less intelligible when presented within the limited time constraints of a compressed message. It was concluded that decreased comprehension of compressed messages is the result of decreased word intelligibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]