Measuring Mandarin Speech Recognition Thresholds Using the Method of Adaptive Tracking

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine (a) the psychometric functions of Mandarin speech-on-speech masking with a comparison to the psychometric properties of the English version and (b) the feasibility of using the method of adaptive tracking (MAT) to measure Mandarin speech recognition thresholds in different masker conditions using a Chinese coordinate response measure (C-CRM) speech corpus. Method The study followed the example of the English coordinate response measure (E-CRM) speech corpus and designed a Chinese version. Sixteen listeners were recruited for a monaural Mandarin speech recognition test using C-CRM materials in 5 competing speech masker conditions: 1-talker different-gender, 1-talker same-gender, and 2-, 4-, and 8-talker maskers. Both the MAT and the method of constant stimuli (MCS) were used and then compared. Results Results of the MCS revealed that Mandarin listeners' psychometric functions varied depending upon masker characteristics (e.g., the number and gender of talker...