Hot topics in speech communication: Listening to foreign-accented speech

Abstract

There are currently more non-native English speakers in the world than there are native speakers. Most of these second language users will speak with a detectable foreign accent. Foreign-accented speech differs from native language norms along many acoustic-phonetic dimensions including the realization of vowel, consonant, and prosodic features. An important question for researchers in the field of speech communication is how this type of language variation influences speech perception and perceptual processing. Numerous findings have shown that foreign-accented speech is generally less intelligible, receives lower comprehensibility ratings, and is processed more slowly than native-accented speech. Further, these negative perceptual effects can be exacerbated by noisy listening conditions or listener variables such as age or hearing loss. However, research over the past several years has shown the amazing flexibility of the speech perception mechanism in its ability to adapt to this form of variability. Through experience and training, listeners can improve their word identification skills with specific foreign-accented talkers, particular foreign accents, and foreign-accented speech in general. New directions in this research area include perception of foreign-accented speech by infants and children as well as how a foreign accent may influence memory.