Respirator Speech Intelligibility Testing with an Experienced Speaker

Abstract

The Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) is used by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to assess speech intelligibility of commercial chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) air-purifying respirators (APRs). The speaker s sound output level, enunciation, accent, and pronunciation may adversely affect sound conveyance and speech intelligibility during respirator wear. It was postulated that an experienced speaker might induce higher intelligibility scores than a less experienced speaker. Twelve NIOSH-certified CBRN APRs that were evaluated previously using the NIOSH test method were used to conduct a modified version of the NIOSH MRT. Performance ratings with the experienced speaker (86.5% 0.6%) were significantly higher than those for the NIOSH method (84.0% 0.6%).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA618108

Entities

People

  • Daniel J. Barker
  • Karen M. Coyne

Organizations

  • Edgewood Chemical Biological Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Background Noise
  • Data Analysis
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Homeland Security
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Intelligibility
  • Occupational Safety And Health
  • Performance Tests
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Protective Equipment
  • Respirators
  • Safety
  • Security
  • Speech
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Methods
  • Word Lists

Readers

  • Materials Science
  • Speech Processing/Speech Recognition.
  • Systems Analysis and Design