Evidence for independent time-unit processing of speech using noise promoting or suppressing masking release

Abstract

The relative independence of time-unit processing during speech reception was examined. It was found that temporally interpolated noise, even at very high levels, had little effect on sentence recognition using masking-release conditions similar to those of Kwon et al. [(2012). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 131, 3111À3119]. The current data confirm the earlier conclusions of Kwon et al. involving masking release based on the relative timing of speech and noise. These data also indicate substantial levels of independence in the time domain, which has implications for current theories of speech perception in noise.

The optimal threshold for removing noise from speech is similar across normal and impaired hearing—a time-frequency masking study

“…But T-F masking can also serve as a model for human perception. According to a glimpsing account of speech perception in noise, listeners extract glimpses (T-F units) of the target speech that are largely spared from the background, assemble these glimpses into a speech percept, and disregard units dominated by the background (Buus, 1985;Apoux and Healy, 2009;Healy et al, 2014).…”