How many languages can be broadcast simultaneously as an emergency announcement?

Abstract

In spaces where people from various countries come and go, voice guidance is often broadcast sequentially in multiple languages. However, this method is disadvantageous to users of the language broadcast later, and this problem can be particularly severe in evacuation broadcasts. In addition, the broadcast time may be too long, which may increase the annoyance/noisiness and spoil the soundscape. We propose the use of simultaneous multilingual broadcasts as a challenging method of achieving language barrier-free and saving the time required for information transmission. In the present study, we examined how many languages can be broadcast simultaneously to clarify the feasibility of the method. The intelligibility of simultaneous broadcasts of up to four languages (Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean) was examined through listening experiments. Participants were instructed to write down Japanese speech only. The experimental parameters were the arrival direction of the target/distracting speech and the background noise level. The results of the experiments suggested that broadcasting two languages simultaneously is sufficiently practical, and even three languages can be practical under certain conditions.