Research on intelligible live/recorded speech announcements in reverberant environments for older adults and non-native listeners

本研究介绍了一种方法，使老年人和非母语听众在混响的公共空间中能够理解语音通知。例如，火车站)。这种方法是基于我们在嘈杂的环境中改变说话方式的方式。对年轻人和老年人进行的听力测试表明，在嘈杂/混响环境中说话的人比在安静环境中说话的人更容易理解。背景噪声/混响条件（信噪比为2和0 dB，混响时间为1.4到3.6 s）下的正常语音公告。结果表明，在公共广播系统中使用噪音/混响语音可以使公共空间的语音广播更容易理解。

This study introduces an approach that makes speech announcements intelligible for older adults and non-native listeners in reverberant public spaces(e. g., train stations). This approach is based on the way we change how we speak depending in a noisy environment. Listening tests with young and older adults showed that speech spoken in noisy/reverberant environments was statistically intelligible than speech spoken in a quiet environment(i. e., normal speech announcements) with background noise/reverberation conditions(signal to noise ratios were-2 and 0 dB, and reverberation times were from 1.4 to 3.6 s). The results suggest that using speech spoken in noise/reverberation for public address systems makes speech announcements more intelligible in public spaces.