老龄化对F0轮廓线索在汉语言语识别去掩蔽作用的影响

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.00094

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

动态基频(F0)轮廓有助于嘈杂环境下的言语识别, 可以作为将目标语音从背景声中分离的知觉线索。本研究通过评估老年人与年轻人在言语掩蔽下聆听具有自然动态F0轮廓与对F0轮廓操作调节后的汉语语句的言语识别能力, 探讨老龄化对F0轮廓线索在汉语言语识别去掩蔽作用中的影响。结果显示, 在言语掩蔽下自然动态的F0轮廓比压扁或拉伸的F0轮廓更能帮助年轻人抵抗信息掩蔽识别目标言语; 而老年人在言语掩蔽下却难以从动态F0轮廓线索中受益。研究结果揭示了老年人利用F0轮廓线索促进掩蔽下言语感知能力的老化特点。

关键词: 汉语言语识别, F0轮廓线索, 老龄化, 言语掩蔽, 去掩蔽

Abstract:

Older adults encounter difficulty in recognizing speech in environments where multiple people are talking. Fundamental frequency (F0) contour is very important for speech recognition in daily communication and can serve as a perceptual cue to segregate speech from background noise. The effect of dynamic F0 contour cues on the speech recognition of younger adults in noisy environments has been widely studied, but the influence on older adults’ speech recognition, especially in tonal languages like Chinese, is still unclear.

The present study explores whether older adults can benefit from dynamic F0 contour cues for Chinese speech recognition under the masking of speech with 12 elderly participants (6 female and 6 male, mean age 68.6 years) and 12 young participants (7 male and 5 female, aged 18~25 years old) possessing normal peripheral hearing. The speech recognition threshold for natural F0 contour sentences and the corresponding sentences with F0 contour manipulations (flattened vs. exaggerated) under two-speaker anomalous speech masking for younger adults and older adults were measured, as well as their ability to follow the target speech under speech masking.

The results showed that natural dynamic F0 contour cues are important to Chinese speech recognition when multiple people are speaking. Speech recognition in all age groups improved with higher signal-to-noise ratios, but while natural F0 patterns facilitated performance of younger adults under speech masking, it had no significant effect on older adults. Under masking with two speakers, the natural dynamic F0 contour cues assist young adults to resist information masking more than a flattened or exaggerated F0 contour, but for the older adults, the speech intelligibility of the target sentences with a natural F0 contour was as poor as that of target sentences with flattened or exaggerated F0 contour.

The availability of F0 contour cues seriously affects the benefits of dynamic F0 contour cues for older adults’ speech recognition against speech masking. There also appears to be an age-related reduction of the benefit from dynamic F0 contour cues in masked speech recognition, so the F0 contour of Chinese sentences may contribute more to speech recognition under speech masking for younger adults than for older adults.

Key words: Chinese speech recognition, fundamental frequency contour, age-related deficits, speech masking, unmasking

中图分类号:

B842
B844

吴梅红. (2023). 老龄化对F0轮廓线索在汉语言语识别去掩蔽作用的影响. 心理学报, 55(1), 94-105.

WU Meihong. (2023). The influence of aging on the unmasking effect of F0 contour cue in Chinese speech recognition. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 55(1), 94-105.

图/表 3

图1 年轻被试和老年被试的纯音测听阈限

图2 目标语句的频谱和F0轮廓(上), 以及所对应的3种不同F0轮廓模式(下)的示意图

图3 不同F0轮廓条件下识别率随信噪比变化的函数以及对应的参数方程拟合曲线注：图中用实线表示年轻人的识别成绩, 平滑的曲线是对数据进行参数拟合的结果。虚线部分显示的是老年人的识别成绩进行参数拟合的结果。图中3种标记分别描述3种不同F0轮廓条件下的识别率：1)扁平的F0轮廓条件(空心圆); 2)自然的F0轮廓条件(实心圆); 3)拉伸的F0轮廓条件(实心三角形)。

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