What aspect of speech understanding is most affected in noisy environments?

In noisy environments, the aspect of speech understanding that is most affected relates to the perception of consonants. Consonants typically contain high-frequency sounds that carry critical linguistic information necessary for speech recognition. When background noise is present, it can mask these higher frequency sounds, making it harder to distinguish consonants from one another. This results in difficulty understanding speech because consonants are pivotal in conveying the meaning of words.

Although vowels are typically lower in frequency and may be easier to detect in noise, they provide less information about the speech context compared to consonants, which are essential for clarity. As a result, in noisy settings, listeners often struggle to pick up on consonants, leading to confusion in understanding spoken language. Background noise predominantly hinders the perception of these sounds, underscoring the importance of consonants in effective communication.