The effects of syllabic compression on speech intelligibility for normal listeners with simulated sensorineural hearing loss

Simulation experiments, involving normal listeners, were conducted to gain a better understanding of the effects of multichannel syllabic compression on a hearing loss characterized by reduced dynamic range and recruitment. Spectrally shaped noise was used to modify normal thresholds. Two impaired listeners from a previous study [R. P. Lippmann, L. D. Braida, and N. I. Durlach, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 62, S90(A). (1977)], one with a sloping high‐frequency loss and one with a flat loss, were simulated. Two linear systems and one compression system were studied under conditions which replicated the investigation with impaired listeners. The results of these experiments, like those with the impaired, showed no advantage for compression over a well‐chosen linear system. However, the patterns of error response were different for the two types of processing for the features duration and frication. Voicing, place, and affrication were equally well perceived under both systems. In general, the accuracy of the simulat...