Speech phonemes in higher frequencies have varying acoustic characteristics in different languages. For example, /s/ and /ʃ/, fricatives commonly used in English, have spectral peaks at higher frequencies than /ʂ/ and /x/, fricatives commonly used in Mandarin. Data on the relationship between the acoustic characteristics of a listener’s native language and their hearing aid signal prescription requirements could provide important clinical guidance. Non-linear frequency compression is a digital signal processing tool that compresses auditory information above a pre-determined cutoff frequency. In hearing aids, this compression is applied with the intention of making higher-frequency speech sounds more audible to listeners with high-frequency hearing loss. Here, we studied the effect of different frequency compression settings on fricative perception between Mandarin and English listeners. Normal-hearing participants between age 18 to 50 years were presented with fricative identification and fricative discrimination tasks under various frequency compression settings. Participants were grouped between those with exclusive English language background birth to 6 years to those with exclusive Mandarin language background during the same period. Results display different responses for presented phonemes and frequency compression settings, suggesting that language specificity could be considered for hearing aid signal prescription.