Activities and Responsibilities

Current Research

Effect of Interruption Rate (Masking Release)
In this experiment, we are exploring the effect of interruption rate on speech intelligibility.  Specifically, we are using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) procedure with either the original HINT stimuli (English) or our own stimuli (Igbo).  For a given noise level, the HINT test provides an estimate of the signal level required for 50%-correct speech intelligibility.  This signal level (for 50%-correct intelligibility) changes depending upon the interruption rate of the noise.  This phenomenon (called Masking Release) has been studied extensively in English.  This experiment will explore and compare the phenomenon of Masking Release for (i) native English speakers listening to English, (ii) native Igbo speakers listening to English, and (iii) native Igbo speakers listening to Igbo.  Since Igbo is a tonal language and English is a non-tonal language, this will allow us to compare Masking Release patterns on native speakers of tonal and non-tonal languages.