Office of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute


Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-72/31

Title and Subtitle: Binaural processing of speech in light aircraft

Report Date: September 1972

Authors: Tobias JV

Abstract: Laboratory studies have shown that the human binaural auditory system can extract signals from noise more effectively when the signals (or the noise) are presented in one of several interaurally disparate configurations. Questions arise as to whether these laboratory studies in anechoic or semi-anechoic spaces can be generalized to more reverberant listening conditions. In this study, tests were conducted in the cabin of a light airplane, in flight. For symmetrical signal sources, loudspeaker transmissions of intelligibility-test materials produce higher intelligibility scores for speakers out-of-phase than for speakers in-phase.

Key Words: Noise, Hearing, Speech Intelligibility, Masking Level Difference, Aircraft--Light, Communication

No. of Pages: 6

Last updated: Friday, June 1, 2012