Use of speech production repair strategies to improve diver communication.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if speech intelligibility improved when divers made specific modifications to their speaking patterns while in a hyperbaric helium-oxygen (heliox) environment. Divers were trained to produce a variety of sentences using speech with three types of alterations: (1) slowed rate, (2) increased loudness, and (3) a combination of slightly slowed rate, a minimal increase in loudness, increased pause time, and greater mouth opening (composite strategy). Both diver and non-diver listeners judged these sentences for intelligibility. In addition, acoustic analysis of the cues for the identification of voicing, place, and manner of articulation was conducted to determine if such cues might become more audible in the speech signal when repair strategies were used. Both perceptual and acoustic results showed the composite method to be the best for natural-sounding, intelligible speech. It had the effect of slowing rate and increasing loudness just enough to increase intelligibility without causing distortion. It was concluded that teaching divers to produce speech using this method would be a worthwhile investment for improving speech intelligibility.

Speech intelligibility assessment in a helium environment.

The purpose of this study was to compare the appropriateness and effectiveness of the speech perception in noise (SPIN) test and the Griffiths version of the modified rhyme test (GMRT) in assessing Navy divers' speech understanding using communication systems containing different helium speech unscramblers (HSUs), one of which produces, by subjective observations, more intelligible output than the other. Divers participating in a saturation deep dive and a group of nondivers using digital audio tape recordings of the stimuli used by the divers were tested. Mean percent correct scores on the SPIN and GMRT lists within two listening conditions (taped, topside-diver and live-voice, diver-diver) were almost identical. Listeners scored better on both tests in the topside-diver condition than in the diver-diver condition. The majority of the SPIN errors were on low-predictability items that are void of context. Context clearly played a role in measuring the performance of these subjects, at least for the SPIN test. No significant differences were measured between the two HSUs, although a trend was seen favoring one HSU over the other for the divers. These results have theoretical as well as practical value for measuring the quality and intelligibility of helium speech enhancement systems.

Speech intelligibility assessment in a helium environment. II. The speech intelligibility index.

The Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) was measured for Navy divers participating in two saturation deep dives and for a group of nondivers to test different communication systems and their components. These SIIs were validated using the Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) test and the Griffiths version of the Modified Rhyme Test (GMRT). Our goal was to determine if either of these assessments was sensitive enough to provide an objective measure of speech intelligibility when speech was processed through different helmets and helium speech unscramblers (HSUs). Results indicated that SII values and percent intelligibility decreased incrementally as background noise level increased. SIIs were very reliable across the different groups of subjects indicating that the SII was a strong measurement for predicting speech intelligibility to compare linear system components such as helmets. The SII was not useful in measuring intelligibility through nonlinear devices such as HSUs. The speech intelligibility scores on the GMRT and SPIN tests were useful when the system component being compared had a large measurable difference, such as in helmet type. However, when the differences were more subtle, such as differences in HSUs, neither the SPIN nor the GMRT appeared sensitive enough to make such distinctions. These results have theoretical as well as practical value for measuring the quality and intelligibility of helium speech enhancement systems.