“Preference space” for parameters of two-channel speech compression

Speech processed with amplitude compression can maintain high levels of intelligibility over a wide range of compression parameter values. The perceived quality of the speech, however, varies widely over this parameter range, especially in the presence of low-level background noise. The present work provides data showing that both normal-hearing listeners and listeners with impairments prefer low compression ratios and long time constants in two-channel compression processing. In addition, we describe a quantitative model linking the release time and compression ratio of the two-channel compression system to the preference judgments of normal-hearing and hearing impaired listeners