Assessment methods for speech communication systems can be divided into three groups: (1) subjective intelligibility measures focused on phonemes, words or sentences, (2) subjective quality measures related to a global impression, and (3) objective measures based on physical aspects of the speech signal or the speech transmission path.
ad 1. Several methods will be discussed for the subjective evaluation of speech transmission systems. Especially concerning the scoring method (open or closed response, scaling), the type of speech material (short nonsense words, rhyme words, phonemes or sentences), and the experimental design,
ad 2. Quality rating is a more global method initially developed for assessment of systems performing at a fair-to-high quality level. The relevance of this type of test is discussed in relation to intelligibility measures,
ad 3. Objective methods, in which the transmission quality is derived from physical parameters, offer additional to the prediction of intelligibility also useful diagnostic information.
Case studies are presented for some adverse transmission conditions.
Intelligibility measuring methods are normally applied for assessment of speech communication systems. However it is recognized that similar methods can also be applied to assess speech recognition systems. The relation between these methods and some specific aspects will be discussed.
Cite as: Steeneken, H.J.M. (1992) Subjective and objective intelligibility measures. Proc. ETRW on Speech Processing in Adverse Conditions, 1-10
@inproceedings{steeneken92_spac,
author={Herman J. M. Steeneken},
title={{Subjective and objective intelligibility measures}},
year=1992,
booktitle={Proc. ETRW on Speech Processing in Adverse Conditions},
pages={1--10}
}