Informational masking in first‐ and second‐language speech recognition.

Abstract

Human speech recognition in noisy conditions is modulated by cognitive factors such as language background. For example, noise is more detrimental to non‐native listeners than native listeners (e.g., van Wijngaarden et al., 2002), and when noise is a speech signal, native‐language noise is more detrimental than foreign‐language noise for listeners attending to native‐language speech targets (e.g., Van Engen and Bradlow, 2007). It is not clear, however, whether this increased interference is primarily due to the native status of the noise or to the greater similarity between target and noise. To address this issue, English speech recognition in the presence of English and Mandarin babble was assessed for monolingual English listeners and L2 English listeners whose L1 is Mandarin. Results showed that intelligibility for both groups was lower in English versus Mandarin babble; that is, L2 listeners experienced more difficulty in same‐language noise versus native‐language noise. However, monolingual English listeners showed a greater release from masking in Mandarin noise than did L1 Mandarin listeners. The informational masking imposed on speech targets by interfering speech noise, therefore, is dependent both on the linguistic and/or acoustic similarity between the noise and the target and on the listeners’ experience with the languages involved.