Development of the speech test signal in Brazilian Portuguese for real-ear measurement

Abstract

Objective: Recommended practice is to verify the gain and/or output of hearing aids with speech or speech-shaped signals. This study has the purpose of developing a speech test signal in Brazilian Portuguese that is electroacoustically similar to the international long-term average speech spectrum (ILTASS) for use in real ear verification systems. Design: A Brazilian Portuguese speech passage was recorded using standardized equipment and procedures for one female talker and compared to ISTS. The passage consisted of simple, declarative sentences making a total of 148 words. Study sample: The recordings of a Brazilian Portuguese passage were filtered to the ILTASS and compared to the International Speech Test Signal (ISTS). Aided recordings were made at three test levels, for three audiograms for the Brazilian Portuguese passage and the ISTS. Results: The unaided test signals were spectrally matched to within 0.5 dB. Aided evaluation revealed that the Brazilian Portuguese passage produced aided spectra that were within 1 dB on average, within about 2 dB per audiogram, and within about 3 dB per frequency for 95% of fittings. Conclusion: Results indicate that the Brazilian Portuguese passage developed in this study provides similar electroacoustic hearing-aid evaluations to those expected from the standard ISTS passage.

Key Words::

• Test signal
• hearing-aid measurement
• hearing aid
• speech
• speech acoustics
• LTASS
• Brazilian Portuguese

Note

1. Measured as the difference between the 99th percentile and the long term average speech spectrum.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully aknowledge Viji Easwar assistance with data collection and for review of an earlier form of this manuscript and Dr. Inga Holube for her review of an earlier version of this manuscript and helpful comments on signal structure and analysis.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This study was supported by the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES – process number 2330-11-03), Ministry of Education, Brazil. Recording equipment and facilities were provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust.

Supplementary material available online at: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/14992027.2013.791031

Supplementary Videos 4.