Speech Intelligibility in Noise with Ear Protectors

Authors

  • S. M. Abel
  • P. W. Alberti
  • K. Riko

Abstract

Speech perception was tested in high level noise under controlled laboratory conditions in noise-exposed workmen and normal subjects, with and without a hearing protector. The group was further divided by age and English fluency, the latter group being included because of the high proportion of non-fluent English speakers in the Canadian workforce. In normal-hearing subjects the highest discrimination scores were found without background noise; they were lower with white noise as a masker, and even lower with crowd noise as a masker; wearing of a protector had no effect on intelligibility. The results for non-fluent English speakers were parallel with these results, but the scores were lower in all test conditions. In the presence of a high frequency hearing loss speech discrimination was lower than in the normals in quiet and in noise. The addition of a hearing protector dropped their discrimination score even further. In a flat hearing loss, wearing of a protector also worsened the speech discrimination score. The results are discussed.

Additional Files

Published

1981-07-01

How to Cite

1.
Abel SM, Alberti PW, Riko K. Speech Intelligibility in Noise with Ear Protectors. Canadian Acoustics [Internet]. 1981 Jul. 1 [cited 2025 Feb. 16];9(3):40-9. Available from: https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/467

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (1981)

Section

Technical Articles

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