Speech Intelligibility with Acoustic and Contact Microphones

Abstract

Speech intelligibility of signals obtained with an acoustic microphone and three types of vibration-driven contact microphones was assessed using the Diagnostic Rhyme Test (DRT). Stimulus words were recorded digitally in a reverberant chamber with no noise and with ambient broadband noise intensity at 106 dB(A). Listeners completed the DRT task in the same settings, thus simulating typical environments of a rotary-wing aircraft. Results show that speech intelligibility is significantly worse for the contact microphones than for the acoustic microphone, particularly in noisy environments, and some consonant types are affected more than others. Therefore, contact microphones are not recommended for use in any situation where fast and accurate speech intelligibility is essential.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA454705

Entities

People

  • Adrianus Houtsma
  • Barbara Acker-mills
  • William A. Ahroon

Organizations

  • United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustics
  • Aircrafts
  • Ambient Noise
  • Communication Systems
  • Ear
  • Earphones
  • False Alarms
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Response
  • Hearing Disorders
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Intelligibility
  • Larynx
  • Microphones
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Speech
  • Transducers

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Robotics and Automation.
  • Speech Processing/Speech Recognition.