Average long-term RMS 1/3-octave band speech spectra were generated for 30 male and 30 female talkers. The two spectra were significantly different in both low and high frequency bands but were similar in the mid-frequency region. It was concluded that a single spectrum could validly be used to represent both male and female speech in the frequency region important for hearing aid gain prescriptions: 250 Hz through 6300 Hz. In addition, the male and female spectra were compared with analogous spectra reported by Byrne (1977) and Pearsons, Bennett, and Fidell (1977). For each sex, significant differences were found among the three spectra in a few frequency bands. The best estimate of the average speech spectrum for each sex was obtained from a weighted average of the three sets of data, excluding the significantly different data points. The long-term RMS 1/3-octave band speech spectrum for male and female talkers combined was derived for use in hearing aid gain prescriptions.
For 30 male and 30 female talkers, distributions of short-term rms speech levels, relative to the corresponding long-term rms levels, were determined in each of eight 1/3-oct bands for six short-term measurement intervals. Consecutive, Hanning-windowed, 20-ms time records were combined to produce nominal measurement intervals ranging from 20 to 120 ms. For each measurement interval, mean distributions of short-term rms speech levels relative to long-term levels were very similar for male and female talkers, and intertalker differences were small, especially for short-term amplitudes above the median level. The distribution of short-term rms speech levels relative to long-term rms speech levels varied with measurement interval for the short-term measurements. The effects of measurement interval was least for the highest amplitude speech levels and increased as speech levels decreased. For short-term amplitudes above the median level, the effect of measurement interval was greater in higher frequency regions, whereas for short-term amplitudes below the median level, measurement interval had the greatest effect on the lower frequency bands. These data may facilitate comparisons among investigations using different measurement intervals. In addition, they have implications for amplification strategies.
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