Using the Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) to compare the speech intelligibility of air versus bone conduction

In combat operations, the success of most missions relies on the ability of the personnel to interpret speech over a communication system. Thus, the need for effective and efficient communication systems has become increasingly important. Generally, there are two means by which radio communication can be transmitted: air conduction and bone conduction. Although air conduction is more commonly used in industry, bone conducted radio communication offers an attractive means for infantry to communicate on the battlefield. This research used 12 listeners to compare speech intelligibility of bone conduction to that of air conduction in multi-talker noise using signal-to-noise (SN) ratios of −6, −9, and −12 dB. The results showed that in the environments tested, air conduction performed better than bone conduction. It was also found that participants’ performance under the three different SN ratios were significantly different with the best performance under the −6 dB SN ratio. Findings from this research will be helpful for designing communication interfaces for military applications in the future.Relevance to industryThis research compares intelligibility of bone- and air-conducted speech using the military's Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT) under different SN ratio conditions. Results from this study will help in the design of better bone conduction devices for the military.