单通道语音增强算法对汉语语音可懂度影响的研究

考察了当前常用的几种单通道语音增强算法对汉语语音可懂度的影响。受不同类型噪音干扰的语音经过5种单通道语音增强算法的处理后,播放给具有正常听力水平的被试进行听辩,考察增强后语音的可懂度。实验结果表明,语音增强算法并不能改进语音的可懂度水平;通过分析具体的错误原因,发现听辩错误主要来自于音素错误,与声调关系不大;而且,同英文的辨识结果相比,一些增强算法对于中、英文可懂度影响差异显著。      

模拟置乱语音剩余可懂度的测试研究

对话音模拟保密通信而言,由于置乱技术的局限性和语音信号的多余度,至使置乱后的保密话音,仍具有一定程度的剩余可懂度。本文描述使用平衡数字串估价剩余可懂度的实验研究。结果表明,四位数字串集合是剩余可懂度测试估价的理想信息材之一,而且采用加权校正计分公式RI_(ds)=sum from i=1 to 4(W_i)(IR_i-P_(ri))来计算数字串剩余可懂度是可靠、实用的。     

提高耳语音可懂度的非对称压缩语音增强方法

提出两种基于非对称代价函数的耳语音增强算法,将语音增强过程中的放大失真和压缩失真区分对待。Modified ItakuraSaito (MIS)算法对放大失真给予更多的惩罚,而Kullback-Leibler (KL)算法则对压缩失真给予更多的惩罚。实验结果表明,在低于—6 dB的低信噪比情况中,经MIS算法增强后的耳语音的可懂度相比传统算法有显著提高;而KL算法则获得了同最小均方误差语音增强算法近似的可懂度提高效果,证实了耳语音中的放大失真和压缩失真对于耳语音可懂度的影响并不相同,低信噪比时较大的压缩失真有助于提高耳语音可懂度,而高信噪比时的压缩失真对耳语音可懂度影响较小。     

汉语声调在言语可懂度中的重要作用

在四种失真（高、低通滤波并混有非线性失真）条件下,进行言语清晰度试验,证明了失真条件下,声调具有很强的抗干扰能力,声调清晰度几乎不受影响。
采用以下不同的激励源（1.白噪声、2.基频固定的三角波、3.基频随声带基频变化的三角波、4.条件1.加条件3.）产生的合成言语,进行言语清晰度试验,证明:声调信息大大有助于提高言语可懂度,声调信息主要存在于基频随时间的变化中,强度变化对声调信息有补偿作用,以及清辅音的存在与否对声调清晰度是有一定影响的。     

一种增强带噪语音可懂度的新算法

一般的语音增强算法在强噪声环境中只能提高信噪比,不能提高可懂度。本文提出用可调节白噪声代替信号中非语音部分的语音可懂度增强处理新算法。实验证明此方法能明显改善强噪声时的语音可懂度,能对低至-10dB的带噪语音信号进行有效的可懂度增强。     

语音特性及声场因素对老年人警报语音可懂度和主观感受的影响*

警报语音广播是紧急情况时提高建筑物内疏散效率的有效手段。通过实验室研究的方法,研究了语音特性及声场因素对老年群体警报语音可懂度和主观感受的影响。主观感受选取了听音容易程度和感知紧迫性两个维度。研究结果表明,老年人警报语音可懂度和听音容易程度评价主要受语速、信噪比和混响时间的影响,且呈现一致的变化趋势,即随着语速和混响时间降低以及信噪比的增加,老年人可懂度和听音容易程度得分均升高,而声压级(最低设置为60dB)、有无警铃和噪声类型没有显著影响。感知紧迫性随语速和声压级的增加而显著增加,信噪比、混响时间及有无警铃声对感知紧迫性并无显著影响。采用人声播报的警报语音其可懂度和感知紧迫性显著高于合成声。比较老年人和年轻人群体的结果发现,在语速、声压级和噪声类型对主观评价的影响上有显著差异。为建立老年人理想且安全的声环境,应采用人声播报并适当降低语速以保证可懂度,同时混响及信噪比条件两方面的改善都是必要的。     

如何提高物理教材的可懂度

教材是教和学的依据，也是学生获得知识的主要来源．在物理教学中教师一方面要认真地研究教材，深入地分析教材的内容、特点和编写意图以充分发挥教材的作用，另一方面要指导学生正确阅读教材是培养学生自学能力的关键，如何提高教材的可懂度，促进学生对教材知识的理解，这对高职教育来说，又是一个新的课题．     

从对话中摘出词句的可懂度

对话中有很多能影响可懂度的因素,以前处理起来不太容易,最近的技术已使此成为可能。本实验旨在研究从一连串对话中摘出语句的可懂度,而以说话的速度作为测试的变量。 测试方法是由四位女性发音人在消声室中,正对电容受话器,距离约10英寸,分别录下问答语句。发音人均为大学生,由实验人分别带入消声室,另一实验     

噪声对单耳语言可懂度的影响

单耳通信时,周边噪声对语言可懂度产生影响。针对信号侧语音信号强度70dB时,研究3种不同类型噪声下,干扰侧不同强度噪声和信号侧不同信噪比情况的语言可懂度。实验结果表明:当信号侧信噪比大于某一阈值时,干扰侧噪声对可懂度不产生显著影响,该阈值同噪声类型有关;而在信号侧低信噪比的情形下,干扰侧适当强度噪声可提高信号侧语言可懂度,最佳干扰噪声级为78—82dB,过大的干扰侧噪声级导致可懂度下降。基于心理声学和生理学的初步机理发现:噪声环境下的语音识别中,对侧耳中耳肌肉伸缩对噪声感知的抑制提高了信号侧语言可懂度。     

汉语文语转换系统的语音规则和声学参数

利用瑞典皇家理工学院（KTH）语言通讯和音乐声学系Carlson和Granstrom设计的多语种文语转换系统,进行了汉语文语转换研究。对汉语文语转换用的基本语音规则和声学参数做了分析、设计和调试,特别对轻声、儿化和变调进行了研究。     

Using the Speech Transmission Index for predicting non-native speech intelligibility

While the Speech Transmission Index (STI) is widely applied for prediction of speech intelligibility in room acoustics and telecommunication engineering, it is unclear how to interpret STI values when non-native talkers or listeners are involved. Based on subjectively measured psychometric functions for sentence intelligibility in noise, for populations of native and non-native communicators, a correction function for the interpretation of the STI is derived. This function is applied to determine the appropriate STI ranges with qualification labels ("bad"-"excellent"), for specific populations of non-natives. The correction function is derived by relating the non-native psychometric function to the native psychometric function by a single parameter (nu). For listeners, the nu parameter is found to be highly correlated with linguistic entropy. It is shown that the proposed correction function is also valid for conditions featuring bandwidth limiting and reverberation.     

The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit

This study investigated how native language background influences the intelligibility of speech by non-native talkers for non-native listeners from either the same or a different native language background as the talker. Native talkers of Chinese (n = 2), Korean (n = 2), and English (n = 1) were recorded reading simple English sentences. Native listeners of English (n = 21), Chinese (n = 21), Korean (n = 10), and a mixed group from various native language backgrounds (n = 12) then performed a sentence recognition task with the recordings from the five talkers. Results showed that for native English listeners, the native English talker was most intelligible. However, for non-native listeners, speech from a relatively high proficiency non-native talker from the same native language background was as intelligible as speech from a native talker, giving rise to the "matched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit." Furthermore, this interlanguage intelligibility benefit extended to the situation where the non-native talker and listeners came from different language backgrounds, giving rise to the "mismatched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit." These findings shed light on the nature of the talker-listener interaction during speech communication.     

Speech intelligibility studies in classrooms

Speech intelligibility tests and acoustical measurements were made in ten occupied classrooms. Octave-band measurements of background noise levels, early decay times, and reverberation times, as well as various early/late sound ratios, and the center time were obtained. Various octave-band useful/detrimental ratios were calculated along with the speech transmission index. The interrelationships of these measures were considered to evaluate which were most appropriate in classrooms, and the best predictors of speech intelligibility scores were identified. From these results ideal design goals for acoustical conditions for classrooms were determined either in terms of the 50-ms useful/detrimental ratios or from combinations of the reverberation time and background noise level.     

Predictors of speech intelligibility in rooms

Three different types of acoustical measures were compared as predictors of speech intelligibility in rooms of varied size and acoustical conditions. These included signal-to-noise measures, the speech transmission index derived from modulation transfer functions, and useful/detrimental sound ratios obtained from early/late sound ratios, speech, and background levels. The most successful forms of each type of measure were of similar prediction accuracy, but the useful/detrimental ratios based on a 0.08-s early time interval were most accurate. Several physical measures, although based on very different calculation procedures, were quite strongly related to each other.     

Chinese speech intelligibility at different speech sound pressure levels and signal-to-noise ratios in simulated classrooms

The speech intelligibility in classroom can be influenced by background-noise levels, speech sound pressure level (SSPL), reverberation time and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The relationship between SSPL and subjective Chinese Mandarin speech intelligibility and the effect of different SNRs on Chinese Mandarin speech intelligibility in the simulated classroom were investigated through room acoustical simulation, auralisation technique and subjective evaluation. Chinese speech intelligibility test signals recorded in anechoic chamber were convolved with the simulated binaural room impulse responses, and then reproduced through the headphone by different SSPLs and SNRs. The results show that Chinese Mandarin speech intelligibility scores increase with increasing of SSPLs and SNRs within a certain range in simulated classrooms. Chinese Mandarin speech intelligibility scores have no significant difference with SNRs of no less than 15 dBA under the same reverberation time condition.     

Development of the Cantonese speech intelligibility index

A Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) for the sentences in the Cantonese version of the Hearing In Noise Test (CHINT) was derived using conventional procedures described previously in studies such as Studebaker and Sherbecoe [J. Speech Hear. Res. 34, 427-438 (1991)]. Two studies were conducted to determine the signal-to-noise ratios and high- and low-pass filtering conditions that should be used and to measure speech intelligibility in these conditions. Normal hearing subjects listened to the sentences presented in speech-spectrum shaped noise. Compared to other English speech assessment materials such as the English Hearing In Noise Test [Nilsson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 1085-1099 (1994)], the frequency importance function of the CHINT suggests that low-frequency information is more important for Cantonese speech understanding. The difference in ,frequency importance weight in Chinese, compared to English, was attributed to the redundancy of test material, tonal nature of the Cantonese language, or a combination of these factors.