Automated Speech Audiometry for Integrated Voice Over Internet Protocol Communication Services

Abstract

Purpose: Problems in speech recognition are often apparent in telecommunication situations. For ecologically valid assessments of such conditions, it is important to quantify the impact of real environments including acoustic conditions at a far-end communication device and all paths of transmission degradation. This study presents an automated matrix sentence test procedure based on automatic speech recognition (ASR) integrated in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure and compares the individual effects of transmission degradations with results from laboratory measurements. Method: Speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured in 16 normal-hearing subjects in four test conditions: (a) a laboratory condition guided by a human experimenter, (b) a laboratory condition with reduced bandwidth and (c) additionally reduced headset quality to simulate typical communication systems, and (d) an automated, ASR-controlled adaptive test procedure over a real VoIP infrastructure. Errors of the ASR system were analyzed to show possible effects on measurement outcome Results: Measured SRTs showed a highly significant correlation ( r = .93) between the fully automatic and “laboratory” conditions, with a constant bias of about 1 dB indicating a linear shift of the data without affecting the distribution around the mean. The individual impact of the different system degradations on SRTs could be quantified Conclusions: This study provides a proof of concept for automated ASR-based SRT measurements over VoIP systems for speech audiometric testing in real communication systems, as it produced results comparable to traditional laboratory settings for this group of 16 normal-hearing subjects. This makes VoIP services a promising candidate for speech audiometric testing in real communication systems.

Mobile audiometry for hearing threshold assessment: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Recent advances in remote audiological assessment have expanded the scope beyond pure tone assessment. Studies have explored remote assessment of supra‐threshold hearing deficits, 34 and speech recognition via internet tests and the telephone 35,36 . Based on this review's findings, future work should prioritise combining pure tone threshold assessment with other tests, such as Speech Recognition and Digits‐in‐Noise, for a more rounded evaluation of hearing ability.…”

“…Studies have explored remote assessment of supra-threshold hearing deficits, 34 and speech recognition via internet tests and the telephone. 35,36 Based on this review's findings, future work should prioritise combining pure tone threshold assessment with other tests, such as Speech Recognition and Digits-in-Noise, for a more rounded evaluation of hearing ability. Head-to-head comparative studies may be used to identify the most accurate technology, or highlight whether some applications perform better in some settings than others.…”

Characterization of the Intelligibility of Vowel–Consonant–Vowel (VCV) Recordings in Five Languages for Application in Speech-in-Noise Screening in Multilingual Settings

“…Specifically, we used a set of nonsense VCV stimuli viable for use across listeners of various languages presented in a multiple-choice format using an adaptive three-alternative forced-choice (3AFC) task [5,[23][24][25][26]. Several ways to communicate the individual responses to stimuli in psychophysical tasks have been used in the literature, e.g., automatization of typed and spoken responses, for example, using automated speech recognition algorithms [27]. However, using automated approaches to record individual responses has limitations, as individuals, particularly the older ones, may have difficulties repeating the stimuli due to higher cognitive load and potential unease and anxiety [28].…”