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Amid the noise and echo: How do you ensure your conversation is clearly understood?
In today's society full of stimulation and noise, how to ensure the clarity of conversation has become an important issue in interpersonal communication. The intelligibility of speech is affected by many factors, and changes in these factors can make simple communication complex and difficult. From environmental noise to language skills, understanding these influencing factors can help us express ourselves more effectively and better understand what others say.
Important influencing factors
Voice is the primary means of communication between humans. But people change the way they speak and listen in different situations, and these changes are influenced by factors such as age, gender, native language, and the social relationship between the interlocutors. Even speech-language pathology may affect the intelligibility of speech.
Environmental conditions also have a direct impact on the clarity of conversation, such as the presence of background noise, room reverberation, and the characteristics of the communications equipment.
The impact of noise and reverberation
Background noise and excessive reverberation can negatively impact speech intelligibility. Generally speaking, the relationship between noise and sound can be described by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). When background noise levels are between 35 and 100 dB, a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 12 dB is generally required to achieve 100% intelligibility, meaning the signal must be approximately four times louder than the background noise.
The human ear's hearing range is about 20 to 20,000 Hz, while the frequency range of speech signals is about 200 to 8000 Hz, so the masking effect of noise depends on the frequency range of the masking noise.
Intelligibility of different types of speech
Lombard Voice
The human brain automatically adjusts speech when there is surrounding noise, a process known as the Lombard effect. The speech at this time is more intelligible than normal speech. Not only is the volume increased, the pitch frequency of the speech is also increased, and the duration of vowels is also prolonged.
Screaming
Shouted speech is less intelligible than Lombard speech because the increased sound energy results in a reduction in the amount of information in the speech. Despite this, through "infinite spike clipping technology", screaming speech is almost as clear and intelligible as normal speech.
Clear Voice
Clear Speech is primarily used for conversations with people with hearing loss and is characterized by slower speech, more pauses, increased speaking volume, and longer word duration.
Baby Voice
Infant speech, or "baby talk," has simplified grammar and easy-to-understand vocabulary, with increased pitch frequency, exaggerated pitch range, and slower speech rates than adult speech.
Quote Voice
Reference speech refers to the speech expression that people consciously make in speech research. Its speaking speed is slow and there are relatively few coherent speech processes (such as shortened vowels).
Hyperspace Voice
Hyperspaced speech occurs when people misinterpret the presence of ambient noise and they adjust the form of the phonemes (F1 and F2) to make it easier for the listener to pick up information from the acoustic signal.
Conclusion
In modern society, whether at work or in life, we face a variety of challenges that affect speech intelligibility. By understanding the effects of noise, reverberation, and different speech types, we can improve the effectiveness of communication. Have you ever reflected on how you adjust the way you speak to ensure that the other person understands you in a noisy environment?
