Syllables intelligibility in relation to the autocorrelation and cepstrum model: the case of Chinese in Taiwan

Abstract

The articulation of some special pronunciations of vowel inconsistently raises with the rapid speech transmission index (RASTI) tested using monosyllables for Chinese phonics. In the researching of speech intelligibility in room, the factors being considered have to include not only the qualities of sound field but the pronunciation characteristics of syllables as well. Therefore, with regard to the defect of RASTI measurements, we utilized the autocorrelation and the cepstrum of monosyllables recorded in rooms to compare the articulation with the physical phenomena of intelligibilities. Thus, we found that the minimum effective duration of autocorrelation function (τ) of all testing syllables signals recorded in rooms, associated well with the articulation for each individual room. Specially, for individual syllable signals, they are further shown significant correlation between the cepstral energy of monosyllables and the articulation collected in all rooms. The cepstrum acts as a spatially intelligible detector for syllables, and the autocorrelation is a good response of the pronunciation characteristics of syllables.

Contribution of Precisely Apparent Source Width to Auditory Spaciousness

“…The speech intelligibility for the monosyllables of Chinese in Taiwan area are in agreement with the effective duration of autocorrelation function (τe) of the syllable itself in the same reverberation levels were found (Chen and Chan [21]). On the contrary, it was found (Chen [22]) that they are opposite between speech transmission index (STI proposed by Steeneken and Houtgast [23]) and magnitude of inter-aural cross-correlation (IACC) where the slope of ceiling were changed in the hall.…”

“…Similarly, Licklider [34] investigated IACC's effect on word-intelligibility under noise masking and found that except the effect of SN ratio, decrease of IACC could improve word-intelligibility in the way that mono-syllables were replaced by short sentences. Chen [35] arranged the recordings of monosyllables in 7 halls, and found that effect both word-difficulty and word-intelligibility could be separated clearly using accumulated cepstrum of the speech voice.…”

The Influence on Cortical Brainwaves in Relation to Word Intelligibility and ASW in Room

“…In the earlier study by Chen and Ando [15], 100 Hz α-waves and 500 Hz β-waves were sampled according to the sampling frequency laws and, after A/D conversion (16 bits), input into a computer to calculate the effective duration (τ e ) of CBWs' ACF ( Figure 4). In ACF calculations of τ e values in the study by Chen and Chan [16], the 0.3 s integration time (2 T) of monosyllabic speech sounds was suggested to be the most effective. Eventually, the monosyllabic signals were played in this study included simulation of the first delay time [17].…”

“…The electrode system was grounded each time the brainwaves were recorded in order to avoid external electric interference. The settings of the simulated sound field were similar to that in the aforementioned psychological experiment [16]. The collected brainwave data was analyzed and processed by NI LabVIEW software.…”

Delving into Hearing Threshold of the Delay Gap of Initial Reflection in a Room by Using the Response of Cortical Brain Waves

“…12 subjects, all of whom self-reported as being right-handed and having normal hearing, participated in this experiment. The number of participants demanded for the CBW recordings was referred to as the conventional studies [1][2][3][4][5][6], which met the requirements for analysing the sound field characteristics.…”