Perception of Tamil Mono-Syllabic and Bi-Syllabic Words in Multi-Talker Speech Babble by Young Adults with Normal Hearing

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study compared the perception of mono-syllabic and bisyllabic words in Tamil by young normal hearing adults in the presence of multi-talker speech babble at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Further for this comparison, a speech perception in noise test was constructed using existing mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic word lists in Tamil. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 30 participants with normal hearing in the age range of 18 to 25 years participated in the study. Speech-in-noise test in Tamil (SPIN-T) constructed using mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words in Tamil was used as stimuli. The stimuli were presented in the background of multi-talker speech babble at two SNRs (0 dB and +10 dB SNR). RESULTS: The effect of noise on SPIN-T varied with SNR. All the participants performed better at +10 dB SNR, the higher of the two SNRs considered. Additionally, at +10 dB SNR performance did not vary significantly for neither mono-syllabic or bi-syllabic words. However, a significant difference existed at 0 dB SNR. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicated that higher SNR leads to better performance. In addition, bi-syllabic words were identified with minimal errors compared to mono-syllabic words. Spectral cues were the most affected in the presence of noise leading to more of place of articulation errors for both mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words.