Nonsense Syllable Recognition Scores as a Function of Consonant-to-vowel Ratios in
Speech Noise for Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Kong, Hye Kyoung; Joo, Yeon Mi; Lee, Kyoung Won

doi:2013.9.1.33

Audiol > Volume 9(1); 2013 > Article

Research Paper

Audiology 2013;9(1): 33-39.
Published online: June 30, 2013.
doi: http://doi.org/10.21848/audiol.2013.9.1.33

어음잡음하에서 자모음비에 따른 감각신경성난청인의 무의미음절인지도

공혜경^1,3, 주연미², 이경원³

¹다산청능재활연구원
²한림대학교 일반대학원 언어청각학과
³한림국제대학원대학교 청각학과

Nonsense Syllable Recognition Scores as a Function of Consonant-to-vowel Ratios in Speech Noise for Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hye Kyoung Kong^1,3, Yeon Mi Joo², Kyoung Won Lee³

¹Dasan Aural Rehabilitation Lab, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Hallym University Graduate School, Chuncheon, Korea
³Department of Audiology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence

Kyoung Won Lee ,Tel: (02)2051-4951, Fax: (02)3453-6618, Email: leekw@hallym.ac.kr

Received: April 27, 2013; Revised: June 4, 2013 Accepted: June 7, 2013. Published online: June 30, 2013.

ABSTRACT

Several studies in English language reported that consonant-to-vowel ratio (CVR) could significantly affect non-sense monosyllabic recognition for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). This study aimed to examine the consonant-vowel (CV) Korean syllable recognition as a function of CVRs with or without background noise. Eighteen listeners with SNHL participated in this study (average age of 66.4 years). The target CV syllables consist of combinations between five consonants of /s/, /tɕh/, /Kh/, /th/, and /ph/ and a vowel /a/. The ratios of the CV syllables were adjusted to be 0, +6, and +12 dB, and the target syllables were presented at listeners’ most comfortable level without or with noise (at signal-to-noise ratios of +6 dB, 0 dB and –6 dB). Results showed that the recognition scores of CV syllable increased with greater SNRs. The recognition score was significantly greater with CVR of 0 dB compared to CVRs of +6 and +12 dB. Only at 0 dB SNR condition, syllable recognition increased as a function of CVR. In conclusion, an increase of CVR may be beneficial to non-sense syllable recognition of hearing-impaired listeners especially in noise. This finding may be informative to select compression ratio, compression threshold, attack time, and release time of non-linear hearing aids.

Key Words: Word recognition score, Consonant-to-vowel ratio, Signal-to-noise ratio, Nonsense syllable, Sensorineural hearing loss, Release time

중심단어: 단어인지도, 자모음비, 신호대잡음비, 무의미음절, 감각신경성난청, 해제시간