Non-native word recognition in babble and white noise

Abstract

Noise causes degradation in speech signals, which poses difficulties for non-native perception. In this study, we examined impacts of noisy conditions on word recognition in naturally produced sentences by Chinese speakers of English (CE) and native speakers of English (NE). We also manipulated the linguistic contexts where targeted words occur, in order to assess how syntactic and semantic information may contribute to facilitate speech perception in adverse conditions. We recorded and compared the mean accuracy of keyword rewriting, to examine effects of noise and linguistic cues across listener groups. Results show that babble noise had more severe influence on CE groups' performance, which was also found commensurate with their English proficiencies. NE listeners, however, showed different patterns in their tolerance of noise and in use of linguistic cues.