# Background noise inhibits listeners' use of contextual cues for dysarthric speech

## TL;DR

Background noise makes it harder for listeners to use context when understanding speech from people with dysarthria.

## Contribution

The study reveals that concurrent speech degradation and noise significantly reduce the benefit of contextual cues.

## Key findings

- Listeners used semantic context similarly for dysarthric speech in quiet and neurotypical speech in noise.
- Concurrent degradation (dysarthric speech in noise) greatly reduced contextual benefit.
- Background noise adds significant communication burden for understanding dysarthric speech.

## Abstract

Contextual clues aid in speech perception, especially when the signal is degraded by speech disorders or background noise. This study examined whether different types of degradation affect how listeners use contextual predictability. Two groups of 50 listeners were tested across three conditions: dysarthric speech, neurotypical speech masked by noise, and dysarthric speech masked by noise. Listeners relied on semantic context similarly for dysarthric speech in quiet and neurotypical speech in noise (single degradations). However, when dysarthric speech was masked by noise (concurrent degradation), contextual benefit was greatly reduced. Findings highlight the communication burden noise adds for understanding dysarthric speech.