The Influence of Talker and Foreign-accent Variability on Spoken Word Identification

Overview

Journal J Acoust Soc Am

Publisher American Institute of Physics

Specialty Otorhinolaryngology

Date 2013 Mar 8

PMID 23464037

Citations 11

Authors

Tessa Bent

Rachael Frush Holt

Affiliations

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Abstract

In spoken word identification and memory tasks, stimulus variability from numerous sources impairs performance. In the current study, the influence of foreign-accent variability on spoken word identification was evaluated in two experiments. Experiment 1 used a between-subjects design to test word identification in noise in single-talker and two multiple-talker conditions: multiple talkers with the same accent and multiple talkers with different accents. Identification performance was highest in the single-talker condition, but there was no difference between the single-accent and multiple-accent conditions. Experiment 2 further explored word recognition for multiple talkers in single-accent versus multiple-accent conditions using a mixed design. A detriment to word recognition was observed in the multiple-accent condition compared to the single-accent condition, but the effect differed across the language backgrounds tested. These results demonstrate that the processing of foreign-accent variation may influence word recognition in ways similar to other sources of variability (e.g., speaking rate or style) in that the inclusion of multiple foreign accents can result in a small but significant performance decrement beyond the multiple-talker effect.

Citing Articles

The effects of bilingualism on children's cross-situational word learning under different variability conditions.

Crespo K, Vlach H, Kaushanskaya M J Exp Child Psychol. 2023; 229:105621.

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Semantic context and stimulus variability independently affect rapid adaptation to non-native English speech in young adults.

Bieber R, Gordon-Salant S J Acoust Soc Am. 2022; 151(1):242.

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Identification of Foreign-Accented Words in Preschoolers With and Without Speech Sound Disorders.

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A role for incidental auditory learning in auditory-visual word learning among kindergarten children.

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