Non-native disadvantage in spoken word recognition is due to lexical knowledge and not type/level of noise

Abstract

Adverse listening conditions typically trigger the use of linguistic knowledge, which helps the listener compensate for the impoverished acoustic signal. It is not clear, however, whether linguistic knowledge facilitates non-native speech perception in the same way as it does native speech perception. This study examined how native listeners and non-native learners use distributional characteristics of the Mandarin lexicon for word recognition in noise. Monosyllabic Mandarin words varying in syllable token frequency and syllable-tone co-occurrence probabilities were mixed with speech-shaped noise and two-talker babble at two signal-to-noise ratios. Participants were asked to listen to the speech and type the perceived syllable and tone word. The results showed that two-talker babble was more disruptive than speech-shaped noise, and a lower signal-to-noise ratio was more detrimental than a higher signal-to-noise ratio. However, neither noise type or noise level affected non-native word recognition disproportionately. Syllable token frequency facilitated word recognition for both listener groups, but only the native listeners showed robust use of syllable-tone co-occurrence probabilities for word recognition. For all listeners, lexical proficiency correlated positively with word recognition performance. These results suggest that lexical proficiency accounts for the use of distributional knowledge regardless of the type or level of noise.