Today, the English-based rapid speech transmission index (RASTI) is a command tool used in Taiwan to serve as the basis for evaluating sound field in the measurement of speech intelligibility in halls. In the previous study (Chen et al., 2003), the results of Chinese-based articulation test of mono-syllabic test lists in halls were similar to those of the RASTI. However, there is a significant finding that among different monosyllables, there were few monosyllables possessed individual difference. Thus, in a study of speech intelligibility in halls, it is important to consider the quality of sound reception of halls as well as the pronunciation features of monosyllables. The aim of this study is to consolidate the two aforementioned questions to analyze the inadequacy of RASTI method and to discuss whether the physical properties of Chinese speech is correlated to results of test lists by proposing new speech analysis method such as autocorrelation function, ACF. In this study, there were 7 sound fields being surveyed, and by comparatively analyzing 84 survey points, the results indicated that, as far as a sound field is concerned, the minimum autocorrelation function (τ(subscript e))(subscript min) was significantly correlated (p<0.01) with the articulation scores collected from each survey point. Meanwhile, after analyzing the sound field further, the finding indicated that the minimum autocorrelation function (τ(subscript e))(subscript min) can effectively detect different construction of monosyllables that may vary significantly (r=0.81, p<0.01) due to different place of articulation and different vowel articulation.
Today, the English-based rapid speech transmission index (RASTI) is a command tool used in Taiwan to serve as the basis for evaluating sound field in the measurement of speech intelligibility in halls. In the previous study (Chen et al., 2003), the results of Chinese-based articulation test of mono-syllabic test lists in halls were similar to those of the RASTI. However, there is a significant finding that among different monosyllables, there were few monosyllables possessed individual difference. Thus, in a study of speech intelligibility in halls, it is important to consider the quality of sound reception of halls as well as the pronunciation features of monosyllables. The aim of this study is to consolidate the two aforementioned questions to analyze the inadequacy of RASTI method and to discuss whether the physical properties of Chinese speech is correlated to results of test lists by proposing new speech analysis method such as autocorrelation function, ACF. In this study, there were 7 sound fields being surveyed, and by comparatively analyzing 84 survey points, the results indicated that, as far as a sound field is concerned, the minimum autocorrelation function (τ(subscript e))(subscript min) was significantly correlated (p<0.01) with the articulation scores collected from each survey point. Meanwhile, after analyzing the sound field further, the finding indicated that the minimum autocorrelation function (τ(subscript e))(subscript min) can effectively detect different construction of monosyllables that may vary significantly (r=0.81, p<0.01) due to different place of articulation and different vowel articulation.