Effects of Speech Intensity on the Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) and Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) Presented in Noise

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Authors

  • Misty BLUE-TERRY Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University; The Cooperative Extension Program, Coltrane Hall
  • Maranda McBRIDE Department of Management, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
  • Tomasz LETOWSKI U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Human Research & Engineering Directorate

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the effect of speech intensity on performance of the Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) and Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) presented in noise. Fourteen normally hearing listeners performed both tests in 65 dB A white background noise. Speech intensity varied while background noise remained constant to form speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of −18, −15, −12, −9, and −6 dB. Results showed that CAT recognition scores were significantly higher than MRT scores at the same SNRs; how- ever, the scores from both tests were highly correlated and their relationship for the SNRs tested can be expressed by a simple linear function. The concept of CAT can be easily ported to other languages for testing speech communication under adverse listening conditions.

Keywords:

speech intelligibility, speech intensity, speech-to-noise ratio