Acoustic Realism of Clinical Speech-in-Noise Testing: Parameter Ranges of Speech-Likeness, Interaural Coherence, and Interaural Differences

Speech-in-noise testing is a valuable component of audiological examination that can provide estimates of a listener's ability to communicate in their everyday life. It has long been recognized, however, that the acoustics of real-world environments are complex and variable and not well represented by a typical clinical test setup. The first aim of this study was to quantify real-world environments in terms of several acoustic parameters that may be relevant for speech understanding (namely speech-likeness, interaural coherence, and interaural time and level differences). Earlier acoustic analyses of binaural recordings in natural environments were extended to binaural re-creations of natural environments that included conversational speech embedded in recorded backgrounds and allowed a systematic manipulation of signal-to-noise ratio. The second aim of the study was to examine these same parameters in typical clinical speech-in-noise tests and consider the “acoustic realism” of such tests. We confirmed that the parameter spaces of natural environments are poorly covered by those of the most commonly used clinical test with one frontal loudspeaker. We also demonstrated that a simple variation of the clinical test, which uses two spatially separated loudspeakers to present speech and noise, leads to better coverage of the parameter spaces of natural environments. Overall, the results provide a framework for characterizing different listening environments that may guide future efforts to increase the real-world relevance of clinical speech-in-noise testing.