AES E-Library

Measuring the Effect of Noise Reduction on Listening Effort

Noise reduction (NR) has become widely applied in the forensic audio domain to “improve” the quality of noisy speech recordings. In this paper we consider how such processing affects listener productivity in everyday speech communication. Two measures are presented: one based on reaction time to spoken digits, and one based on finding errors in a transcript of a spoken conversation. We explain why such tasks are a useful complement to measures based on intelligibility, then present the methodology and results for two evaluations of these measures using MMSE processing on speech corrupted by babble and car-noise. Finally we discuss the implications for the use of NR techniques and for our understanding of how signal quality affects speech communication.

Authors: Huckvale, Mark; Frasi, Deizom
Affiliation: University College London, London, UK
AES Conference:39th International Conference: Audio Forensics: Practices and Challenges (June 2010)
Paper Number:8-3 Import into BibTeX
Subject:Audio Forensics: Enhancement of Noisy Recordings

Click to purchase paper or login as an AES member. If your company or school subscribes to the E-Library then switch to the institutional version. If you are not an AES member and would like to subscribe to the E-Library then Join the AES!

This paper costs $20 for non-members, $5 for AES members and is free for E-Library subscribers.

Learn more about the AES E-Library

E-Library Location: (CD 39thPapers)   /39/aes39-000044.pdf

Start a discussion about this paper!