Classical spectral-peak vowel coding is especially vulnerable to noise and level changes

Evidence

The reduced release from forward masking has substantial implications for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. Even when target stimuli are presented in a quiet environment, components of the target stimulus that precede other components can drastically influence the ability to extract information present throughout the duration of the target. For example, within a speech signal, a high-intensity vowel could, in theory, forward-mask a low-intensity consonant, causing difficulty for the listener with hearing loss to identify that consonant. Slowing speech can also help with forward masking effects, but is not always easily achievable. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1111 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Vowels dominate perceived loudness while consonants carry intelligibility — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1307; Sonograms visually expose vowel formants as enhanced frequency bands; Internal noise, not feature extraction, explains individual variation in model vowel identification (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Loss of peripheral compression alone impairs recognition of low-level syllables between louder ones #expands (0.82)
• Low-frequency transport noise masks the vowels that carry speech meaning #complicates (0.80)
• Prolonged forward masking makes vowels mask consonants in impaired ears #expands (0.78) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1111
• Inherent noise fluctuations do not universally limit speech perception across hearing conditions #complicates (0.76) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2166
• Beyond audibility, spectral shape of loss drives which speech cues fail #expands (0.75)
• Different noise types mask different specific speech sounds by matching their spectra #complicates (0.74)
• Low-level tones mask lower frequencies more than higher ones, reversing at high levels #contradicts (0.72)