Application of a short-time version of the Equalization-Cancellation model to speech intelligibility experiments with speech maskers.

A short-time-processing version of the Equalization-Cancellation (EC) model of binaural processing is described and applied to speech intelligibility tasks in the presence of multiple maskers, including multiple speech maskers. This short-time EC model, called the STEC model, extends the model described by Wan et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128, 3678-3690 (2010)] to allow the EC model's equalization parameters τ and α to be adjusted as a function of time, resulting in improved masker cancellation when the dominant masker location varies in time. Using the Speech Intelligibility Index, the STEC model is applied to speech intelligibility with maskers that vary in number, type, and spatial arrangements. Most notably, when maskers are located on opposite sides of the target, this STEC model predicts improved thresholds when the maskers are modulated independently with speech-envelope modulators; this includes the most relevant case of independent speech maskers. The STEC model describes the spatial dependence of the speech reception threshold with speech maskers better than the steady-state model. Predictions are also improved for independently speech-modulated noise maskers but are poorer for reversed-speech maskers. In general, short-term processing is useful, but much remains to be done in the complex task of understanding speech in speech maskers.