A METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE INTELLIGIBILITY OF NOISY AND/OR ENHANCED SPEECH AND A BINAURAL HEARING SYSTEM

摘要

The application relates to an intrusive binaural speech intelligibility prediction system comprising a binaural speech intelligibility predictor unit adapted for receiving a target signal comprising speech in a) left and right essentially noise-free versions x l , x r , and in b) left and right noisy and/or processed versions y l , y r , said signals being received or being representative of acoustic signals as received at left and right ears of a listener. The binaural speech intelligibility predictor unit is configured to provide as an output a final binaural speech intelligibility predictor value SI measure indicative of the listener's perception of said noisy and/or processed versions y l , y r of the target signal. The application further relates to a method of providing a binaural speech intelligibility prediction value. The system comprises a) first, second, third and fourth input units for providing time-frequency representations x l (k,m), x r (k,m), y l (k,m) and y r (k,m) of said left and right noise-free versions and said left and right noisy and/or processed versions of the target signal, respectively, k being a frequency bin index, k= 1 , 2 , ..., K, and m being a time index; b) a first Equalization-Cancellation stage adapted to receive and relatively time shift and amplitude adjust the left and right noise-free versions x l (k,m) and x r (k,m), respectively, and to provide a resulting noise-free signal x ( k,m ); c) a second Equalization-Cancellation stage adapted to receive and relatively time shift and amplitude adjust the left and right noisy and/or processed versions y l (k,m) and y r (k,m), respectively, and to provide a resulting noisy and/or processed signal y(k,m); and d) a monaural speech intelligibility predictor unit for providing final binaural speech intelligibility predictor value SI measure based on said resulting noise-free signal x(k,m) and said resulting noisy and/or processed signal y(k,m) ; wherein said first and second Equalization-Cancellation stages are adapted to optimize the final binaural speech intelligibility predictor value SI measure to indicate a maximum intelligibility of said noisy and/or processed versions y l , y r of the target signal by said listener. The invention may e.g. be used in development systems for hearing aids.