Natural and synthetic speech comprehension in simulated tonal and pulsatile tinnitus: A pilot study

Authors: Jacek Kudera, Marjolein Van Os, Bernd Möbius

Abstract:

This paper summarizes the results of a Modified Rhyme Test conducted with masked stimuli to simulate two common types of hearing impairment: bilateral pulsatile and pure tinnitus. Two types of stimuli, meaningful German words (natural read speech and TTS output) differing in initial or final positioned minimal pairs were modified to correspond to six listening conditions. Results showed higher recognition scores for natural speech compared to synthetic and better intelligibility for pulsatile tinnitus noise over pure tone tinnitus. These insights are of relevance given the alarming rates of tinnitus in epidemiological reports.