Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32324825›Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Influence of transient pressure changes on speech intelligibility: Implications for next-generation train travel.

Daniel Rooney, Martin Wittkowski, Susanne Bartels, Sarah Weidenfeld, Daniel Aeschbach

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Daniel RooneyDepartment of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2966-9483
Martin WittkowskiDepartment of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany.
Susanne BartelsDepartment of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany.
Sarah WeidenfeldDepartment of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany.
Daniel AeschbachDepartment of Sleep and Human Factors Research, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

High-speed trains are operated in increasingly complex railway networks and continual improvement of driver assistance systems is necessary to maintain safety. Speech offers the opportunity to provide information to the driver without disrupting visual attention. However, it is not known whether the transient pressure changes inside trains passing through tunnels interfere with speech intelligibility. Our primary goal was to test whether the most severe pressure variations occurring in high-speed trains (25 hPa in 2 s) affect speech intelligibility in individuals with normal hearing ability and secondly whether a potential effect would depend on the direction of the pressure change. A cross-over design was used to compare speech intelligibility, measured with the monosyllable word test by Wallenberg and Kollmeier, in steady ambient pressure versus subsequent to pressure events, both realised in a pressure chamber. Since data for a power calculation did not exist, we conducted a pilot study with 20 participants to estimate variance of intra-individual differences. The upper 80% confidence limit guided sample size of the main campaign, which was performed with 72 participants to identify a 10% difference while limiting alpha (5%) and beta error (10%). On average, a participant understood 0.7 fewer words following a pressure change event compared to listening in steady ambient pressure. However, this intra-individual differences varied strongly between participants, standard deviation (SD) ± 4.5 words, resulting in a negligible effect size of 0.1 and the Wilcoxon signed rank test (Z = -1.26; p = 0.21) did not distinguish it from chance. When comparing decreasing and increasing pressure events an average of 0.2 fewer words were understood (± 3.9 SD). The most severe pressure changes expected to occur in high-speed trains passing through tunnels do not interfere with speech intelligibility and are in itself not a risk factor for loss of verbal information transmission.

Indexed as

AdultAtmospheric PressureCross-Over StudiesEar, MiddleFemaleHearing TestsHumansMaleNoisePilot ProjectsProspective StudiesRailroadsSample SizeSpeech IntelligibilitySpeech PerceptionYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID32324825
PMCPMC7179854

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.