An Italian matrix sentence test for the evaluation of speech intelligibility in noise

Puglisi, Giuseppina Emma; Warzybok, Anna; Hochmuth, Sabine; Visentin, Chiara; Astolfi, Arianna; Prodi, Nicola; Kollmeier, Birger

doi:10.3109/14992027.2015.1061709

Cited by 74 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Because sentences were randomly generated for each block, no two 10-sentence blocks were (theoretically) the same within a run, across runs, and across subjects. The slopes of the sigmoid functions fit to the data in Figure 4 were comparable to those reported in Hochmuth et al (2012), but shallower than in Puglisi et al (2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

The development and validation of the Closed-set Mandarin Sentence (CMS) test

Tao

Galvin

et al. 2017

Speech Communication

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Matrix-styled sentence tests offer a closed-set paradigm that may be useful when evaluating speech intelligibility. Ideally, sentence test materials should reflect the distribution of phonemes within the target language. We developed and validated the Closed-set Mandarin Sentence (CMS) test to assess Mandarin speech intelligibility in noise. CMS test materials were selected to be familiar words and to represent the natural distribution of vowels, consonants, and lexical tones found in Mandarin Chinese. Ten key words in each of five categories (Name, Verb, Number, Color, and Fruit) were produced by a native Mandarin talker, resulting in a total of 50 words that could be combined to produce 100,000 unique sentences. Normative data were collected in 10 normal-hearing, adult Mandarin-speaking Chinese listeners using a closed-set test paradigm. Two test runs were conducted for each subject, and 20 sentences per run were randomly generated while ensuring that each word was presented only twice in each run. First, the level of the words in each category were adjusted to produce equal intelligibility in noise. Test-retest reliability for word-in-sentence recognition was excellent according to Cronbach’s alpha (0.952). After the category level adjustments, speech reception thresholds (SRTs) for sentences in noise, defined as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that produced 50% correct whole sentence recognition, were adaptively measured by adjusting the SNR according to the correctness of response. The mean SRT was −7.9 (SE=0.41) and −8.1 (SE=0.34) dB for runs 1 and 2, respectively. The mean standard deviation across runs was 0.93 dB, and paired t-tests showed no significant difference between runs 1 and 2 (p=0.74) despite random sentences being generated for each run and each subject. The results suggest that the CMS provides large stimulus set with which to repeatedly and reliably measure Mandarin-speaking listeners’ speech understanding in noise using a closed-set paradigm.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

The development and validation of the Closed-set Mandarin Sentence (CMS) test

Tao

Galvin

et al. 2017

Speech Communication

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“…Unfavorable acoustics in classroom determines challenging environments for children, who are more sensitive than adults or older peers to noise and reverberation when performing tasks that involve listening comprehension and non-auditory features such as short-term memory, reading, and writing (Klatte et al, 2013). As a result, BA brings lower speech intelligibility scores, mostly for first graders (Astolfi et al, 2012b;Prodi et al, 2013;Puglisi et al, 2015b); degradation of the accuracy in identifying and producing newly learned words (Riley and McGregor, 2012); reduced reading speed of second graders (Puglisi et al, 2018); and lower scores in the standardized tests of literacy, mathematics, and science for pupils aged 7-11 years (Shield and Dockrell, 2008).…”

Section: Effect Of Bad Classroom Acoustics On Learning Attainments Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Classroom Acoustics on Noise Disturbance and Well-Being for First Graders

et al. 2019

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Several studies have shown so far that poor acoustics inside classrooms negatively affects the teaching and learning processes, especially at the lowest grades of education. However, the extent to which noise exposure or excessive reverberation affect well-being of children at school in their early childhood is still unanswered, as well as their awareness of noise disturbance. This work is a pilot study to investigate to which extent classroom acoustics affects the perceived well-being and noise disturbance in first graders. About 330 pupils aged from 6 to 7 years participated in the study. They belonged to 20 classes of 10 primary schools located in Torino (Italy), where room acoustic measurements were performed and where noise level was monitored during classes. The school buildings and the classrooms were balanced between socioeconomic status and acoustic conditions. Trained experimenters administered questionnaires in each class, where pupils answered all together during the last month of the school year (May). Questions included the happiness scale, subscales assessing self-esteem, emotional health, relationship at home and with friends, enjoyment of school, intensity and noise disturbance due to different sound sources, and quality of voice. The findings of the study suggest that long reverberation times, which are associated with poor classroom acoustics as they generate higher noise levels and degraded speech intelligibility, bring pupils to a reduced perception of having fun and being happy with themselves. Furthermore, bad classroom acoustics is also related to an increased perception of noise intensity and disturbance, particularly in the case of traffic noise and noise from adjacent school environments. Finally, happy pupils reported a higher perception of noise disturbance under bad classroom acoustic conditions, whereas unhappy pupils only reported complaints in bad classroom acoustics with respect to the perception of pleasances with himself or herself and of fitting in at school. Being a mother tongue speaker is a characteristic of children that brings more chances of attending classes in good acoustics, of being less disturbed, and of having more well-being, and richer districts presented better acoustic conditions, in turn resulting in richer districts also revealing a greater perception of well-being.

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“…The background noise was presented at 65 dB SPL, whereas the speech level was adaptively adjusted depending on the subjects' response to obtain the S/N ratio at which the percent word score was 50%. Two lists of 30 sentences, having a fixed syntactic structure, were generated by picking up items from a 105-word base matrix 14 . Before testing, a training list was applied.…”

Section: Experimental Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefit of hearing aid use in the elderly: the impact of age, cognition and hearing impairment

Tognola

Mainardi

Vincenti

et al. 2019

Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital

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An Italian matrix sentence test for the evaluation of speech intelligibility in noise

Abstract: A good agreement has been found between the SRTs and slope and those of other matrix tests. Since sentences are difficult to memorize, the Italian matrix test is suitable for repeated measurements.

Cited by 74 publications

References 8 publications

The development and validation of the Closed-set Mandarin Sentence (CMS) test

The development and validation of the Closed-set Mandarin Sentence (CMS) test

Influence of Classroom Acoustics on Noise Disturbance and Well-Being for First Graders

Benefit of hearing aid use in the elderly: the impact of age, cognition and hearing impairment

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