ETRW on Speech Processing in Adverse Conditions Cannes-Mandelieu, France November 10-13, 1992

Speech Intelligibility in Protective Masks

Harry Hollien

Institute for Advanced Study of the Communication Processes, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Although the threat of unrestrained warfare appears markedly reduced, some of the prior military-related problems still exist. One such problem relates to a person's communicative efficiency when employing biological and chemical warfare protective clothing - especially CW masks. Intelligibility experiments were carried out on seven types of CW masks used by three countries - or proposed for use with NATO forces. Three types of speech were used: counting, word lists and connected discourse, as were three speaking conditions (normal, stress, noise); motor speech tests also were carried out as was frequency response of mask cavity. Data on general speech degradation are presented, as is information on the motor speech experiments. This research program was supported by the U.S. Navy.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Hollien, Harry (1992): "Speech intelligibility in protective masks", In SPAC-1992, 61-64.