A Speech Preprocessing Method Based on Overlap-Masking Reduction to Increase Intelligibility in Reverberant Environments

Grosse J, van de Par S. A Speech Preprocessing Method Based on Overlap-Masking Reduction to Increase Intelligibility in Reverberant Environments. J Audio Eng Soc. 2017;65(1/2):31-41. doi:10.17743/jaes.2016.0067

@article{Grosse2017_18541,
  author = {Grosse, Julian and van de Par, Steven},
  title = {{A Speech Preprocessing Method Based on Overlap-Masking Reduction to Increase Intelligibility in Reverberant Environments}},
  journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society},
  volume = {65},
  number = {1/2},
  pages = {31--41},
  year = {2017},
  month = jan,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  doi = {10.17743/jaes.2016.0067},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2016.0067}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - A Speech Preprocessing Method Based on Overlap-Masking Reduction to Increase Intelligibility in Reverberant Environments
AU  - Grosse, Julian
AU  - van de Par, Steven
T2  - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
J2  - J. Audio Eng. Soc.
VL  - 65
IS  - 1/2
SP  - 31
EP  - 41
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/01/06
DO  - 10.17743/jaes.2016.0067
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2016.0067
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - The reproduction of speech over loudspeakers in a reverberant environment is often encountered in daily life, as for example, in a train station or during a telephone conference. Spatial reverberation degrades intelligibility. This study proposes two perceptually motivated preprocessing approaches that are applied to the dry speech before being played into a reverberant environment. In the first algorithm, which assumes prior knowledge of the room impulse response, the amount of overlap-masking due to successive phonemes is reduced. In the second algorithm, emphasizing onsets is combined with overlap-masking. A speech intelligibility model is used to find the best parameters for these algorithms by minimizing the predicted speech reception thresholds. Listening tests show that this preprocessing method can indeed improve speech intelligibility in reverberant environments. In listening tests, Speech Reception Thresholds improved up to 6 dB.
ER  -