The effect of noise on relationships between speech intelligibility and self-report measures in tracheoesophageal speakers

Abstract

As clinicians and researchers, it is our ultimate goal to improve our patients' quality of life. This goal is achieved through reliable measurements such as speech intelligibility, which is a standard assessment of a patient's impairment level. Attempts to correlate this measurement with a patient's daily communication outside the clinic have been weak or uncertain. In this study we explore the correlation between speech intelligibility and self-report measures in a population of head and neck cancer patients, alaryngeal tracheoesophageal speakers (TEP). Participants: 24 individuals using TEP, 66 naïve listeners who performed intelligibility ratings of the speakers in quiet and in noise. The strength of these relationships was compared across the quiet and noise conditions. There was a weak correlation (r =0.201 and r= 0.003) between speech intelligibility in quiet and self-report measures. A slightly stronger correlation (r = 0.435 and r=0.311) was found between speech intelligibility in noise and self-report measures. The results of the study suggest that intelligibility in noise is a better predictor of self-rated communication function than intelligibility in quiet.