Meaningful speech-in-noise benefit requires double the detectable SNR change

Evidence

The threshold (JND) for a discriminable change was roughly 3 dB SNR. In more advantageous conditions, the SNR JND increased, and decreased for simpler speech (digits vs. sentences; cf. MacPherson and Akeroyd 2014 ). The threshold (JMD) for a meaningful benefit was at least 6 dB. Curiously, age and hearing loss were not factors well correlated with either individuals’ just noticeable or just meaningful differences. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5669

Categorization

• XREF: The 3 dB JND vs 6 dB JMD gap connects to hearing-aid fitting standards and to general psychophysics of detectability vs meaningfulness across modalities.
• QUESTION: That age and hearing loss did not correlate with JND or JMD is surprising — worth investigating whether this generalizes beyond this sample.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5669