Loss of peripheral compression alone impairs recognition of low-level syllables between louder ones
Evidence
Paradoxically, electronic volume compression does not improve intelligibility; in many cases it makes it worse, because it can distort the syllabic amplitude variations that help us understand words. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Contralateral efferent inhibition of compression amplifies inter-aural level differences; Lost cochlear compression degrades speech formant coding in hearing-impaired listeners; Compression loss most impairs recognition when a syllable is relatively quieter than its neighbors. (+9 more)
Broader Connections
- Volume compression worsens speech intelligibility by flattening syllabic amplitude cues
#corroborates(0.90) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492 - Wide dynamic range compression degrades perception of speech temporal cues like stop consonants
#corroborates(0.78) - Wider peripheral tuning from hearing loss suppresses low-frequency fluctuation amplitude
#expands(0.72) - Faster-fluctuating sounds trigger less cochlear compression, trading sensitivity for better dynamic encoding
#qualifies(0.70) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3637 - Prolonged forward masking makes vowels mask consonants in impaired ears
#expands(0.70) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1111