The effects of training context on perceptual learning of accented speech

Abstract

This study investigates factors influencing adult listeners’ perceptual learning of talker-specific and accent-general properties of spoken language. Exposure to foreign accented speech under different training conditions was used to examine mechanisms involved in perceptual learning. Adult native speakers of American English were exposed to English words produced by six native-Spanish-speaking adults. During training, the Spanish-accented words were either grouped by speaker, by word, or were randomized with respect to speaker and word. The different types of training were hypothesized to direct attention to particular characteristics of the accented speech. At test, listeners were asked to transcribe novel words produced by familiar or unfamiliar accented speakers. Regardless of training condition, listeners who had been exposed to Spanish-accented speech during training were more accurate at test than an untrained control group. However, high variability training in which words were randomized led to better transcription performance at test than training with items grouped by speaker or by word. These findings suggest that high variability training may direct attention to the accent-general properties of speech necessary for perceptual learning of accented speech.