- Author:
In Ki JIN
1
;
Junghak LEE
;
Kyoungwon LEE
;
Jinsook KIM
;
Dongwook KIM
;
Junil SOHN
;
Kyung Ju LEE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Band-importance function; Speech intelligibility; Hearing aid fitting
- MeSH: Adult*; Hearing Aids; Humans; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Speech Intelligibility; Weights and Measures
- From:Journal of Audiology & Otology 2016;20(2):80-84
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The band-importance function (BIF) refers to a value characterizing the relative importance of different frequencies to speech intelligibility. The purpose of this study was to derive the BIF for the Korean standard sentence lists for adults (KS-SL-A). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this study, sentences from the KS-SL-A were used as the speech material. Twenty-six normal-hearing Korean listeners participated and intelligibility scores in 8 filters with 3 signal-to-noise ratio conditions were obtained. Based on the intelligibility score percentages, the BIF for the KS-SL-A was derived by using an established protocol. RESULTS: Band-importance weights varied across frequency bands. The most important frequency region was around 316 Hz (20.0%), and the importance of the frequency bands below the center frequency (CF) of 1,778 Hz was 59.6%. Therefore, low frequencies below the CF of 1,778 Hz were more important than high frequencies above the CF of 1,778 Hz. CONCLUSIONS: The BIF for KS-SL-A could be applied towards developing a hearing aid fitting formulae for Korean listeners.