The Limiting Effect of Discard Interval On Time-Compressed Speech

Twenty subjects listened to CNC word lists compressed at a 2: 1 compression ratio using four different discard intervals, 40, 50, 60, and 70 milliseconds. The stimuli were presented to the subjects both dichotically and diotically. Results indicated a clear advantage in word intelligibility of time-compressed speech at discard intervals from 40 to 70 milliseconds when the signal was presented dichotically. Intelligibility was found to decline rapidly, however, under diotic presentation when the discard interval exceeded 50 to 60 milliseconds. Intelligibility scores for all discard intervals, dichotic presentation, remained above 90%.