Equal SNR reductions hurt words and sentences alike in noise.

Evidence

A 3 stimulus type (words, LP sentences, HP sentences) by two SNR (high, low) repeated-measures ANOVA showed main effects of type (F(2, 50) = 192.55 p < 0.001, LP < words < HP) and SNR (F(1, 25) = 103.43, p < 0.001) but no interaction (F(2, 50) = 1.78, p = 0.18), and suggested that a 3-dB decrease in SNR reduced intelligibility for all three stimuli types by a similar amount (12 %). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1269