Influence of long talker-to-listener distance on temporal properties of speech

Speech exhibits robust temporal characteristics, including syllable duration and the speech modulation spectrum. In real-world scenarios, speech is often exchanged over long distances. This study investigates how the temporal characteristics of speech are influenced by talker-to-listener distance. When talker-to-listener distance increases from 1 to 100 m, we observe a 48 ± 29% (M ± SD) increase in mean syllable duration. The temporal amplitude modulation spectrum, however, remains similar, regardless of talker-to-listener distance, with its peak frequency slightly lowering by -13 ± 41%. Finally, distance-related elongation of syllables occurs in addition to distance-related increases in syllable intensity or pitch, and longer syllable duration predicts greater speech intelligibility.