Improving Speech Intelligibility of Older Hearing Impaired Adults by Promoting Consonant-Vowel Ratio

Abstract

Past researches suggested that selectively extending constants in speed speech could benefit speech intelligibility of old hearing impaired people. Based on this theory, a practical algorithm was proposed in this paper to regulate constant-vowel ratio in syllables automatically. This algorithm was fitted to 5 patients and a comparative intelligibility test was conducted. The test results indicated its potential benefit of improving perception for older deaf people and holding good audibility and hearing comfort.