The influence of discrete arriving reflections on perceived intelligibility and speech transmission index measurements

The most widely used objective intelligibility measurement method, the Speech Transmission Index (STI), does not completely match the highly complex auditory perception and human hearing system. Investigations were made into the impact of discrete reflections (with varying arrival times and amplitudes) on STI scores, subjective intelligibility, and the subjective “annoyance factor.” This allows the effect of comb filtering on the modulation transfer function matrix to be displayed, as well as demonstrates how the perceptual effects of a discrete delay cause subjective “annoyance,” that is not necessarily mirrored by STI. This work provides evidence showing why STI should not be the sole verification method within public address and emergency announcement systems, where temporal properties also need thoughtful consideration.