PETRA - Plateau d’Etudes Techniques et de Recherche en Audition

Project title : Comprehension / Speech intelligibility deteriorated

Date : novembre 2010 - février 2011

Level : PhD

Grant : Financement PRES-Région

Laboratories : Unité de Recherche Octogone, Service Voix-Déglutition Hôpital Larrey

Involved researchers : Lionel Fontan, Claude Legros, Eli Serrano, Virginie Woisard, Julien Tardieu, Pascal Gaillard

For details and questions : contact

Abstract :

This research is a direct answer to a need that has been shown within the field of speech patholo- gy. In order to assess their patients’ skills and to follow their progress over time, speech patholo- gists need reliable and valid methods for quantifying communicative performance. Today speech intelligibility tests are the most widely used tools for this purpose.

Despite this fact, few authors have studied the relationship between speech intelligibility scores and a patient’s ability to be understood by others (Beukelman, 1979 ; Hustad, 2008). Our research work directly builds on these previous studies. We created a method to assess speech compre- hension by observing the listener’s reactions to speech. This method — implemented in a soft- ware program called ‘EloKanz‘ — allowed us to study the relationship between speech intelligi- bility and speech comprehension in a more precise manner.

Our results show that speech intelligibility scores are not valid predictors of communicative performance. Clinical implications matter greatly, since speech intelligibility scores are used not only to evaluate the effectiveness of speech therapies and treatments, but also to make enroll- ment or dismissal decisions.

Audio Example :

Below is an example of the "babble noise" used in this project :