The perception and production of Mandarin-accented English: The role of degree of accentedness in the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for talkers and the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for listeners

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (4) ◽  
pp. 2814-2814
Author(s):  
Sheyenne Fishero ◽  
Joan Sereno ◽  
Allard Jongman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Accented English

scholarly journals Temporal fine structure influences voicing confusions for consonant identification in multi-talker babble

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vibha Viswanathan ◽  
Barbara G. Shinn-Cunningham ◽  
Michael G. Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Temporal Fine Structure ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Listening Environments ◽  
Intact Condition ◽  
Speech Content

To understand the mechanisms of speech perception in everyday listening environments, it is important to elucidate the relative contributions of different acoustics cues in transmitting phonetic content. Previous studies suggest that the energy envelopes of speech convey most speech content, while the temporal fine structure (TFS) can aid in segregating target speech from background noise. Despite the vast literature on TFS and speech intelligibility, the role of TFS in conveying additional speech content over what envelopes convey in complex acoustic scenes is poorly understood. The present study addresses this question using online psychophysical experiments to measure consonant identification in multi-talker babble for intelligibility-matched intact and 64-channel envelope-vocoded stimuli. Consonant confusion patterns revealed that listeners had a greater tendency in the vocoded (versus intact) condition to be biased towards reporting that they heard an unvoiced consonant, despite envelope and place cues being largely preserved. This result was replicated when babble instances were varied across independent experiments, suggesting that TFS conveys important voicing cues over what envelopes convey in multi-talker babble, a masker that is ubiquitous in everyday environments. This finding has implications for assistive listening devices that do not currently provide TFS cues, such as cochlear implants.

scholarly journals Energetic and Informational Components of Speech-on-Speech Masking in Binaural Speech Intelligibility and Perceived Listening Effort

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651985459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Rennies ◽  
Virginia Best ◽  
Elin Roverud ◽  
Gerald Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Spatial Separation ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Complex Sound ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Sound Fields ◽  
Energetic Masking

Speech perception in complex sound fields can greatly benefit from different unmasking cues to segregate the target from interfering voices. This study investigated the role of three unmasking cues (spatial separation, gender differences, and masker time reversal) on speech intelligibility and perceived listening effort in normal-hearing listeners. Speech intelligibility and categorically scaled listening effort were measured for a female target talker masked by two competing talkers with no unmasking cues or one to three unmasking cues. In addition to natural stimuli, all measurements were also conducted with glimpsed speech—which was created by removing the time–frequency tiles of the speech mixture in which the maskers dominated the mixture—to estimate the relative amounts of informational and energetic masking as well as the effort associated with source segregation. The results showed that all unmasking cues as well as glimpsing improved intelligibility and reduced listening effort and that providing more than one cue was beneficial in overcoming informational masking. The reduction in listening effort due to glimpsing corresponded to increases in signal-to-noise ratio of 8 to 18 dB, indicating that a significant amount of listening effort was devoted to segregating the target from the maskers. Furthermore, the benefit in listening effort for all unmasking cues extended well into the range of positive signal-to-noise ratios at which speech intelligibility was at ceiling, suggesting that listening effort is a useful tool for evaluating speech-on-speech masking conditions at typical conversational levels.

scholarly journals The role of L1 English speakers’ familiarity with Brazilian-accented English (L2) in the intelligibility of Brazilian learners of English (L2): a discussion on intelligibility from a Complex Dynamic Systems perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 339-362
Author(s):  
Déborah Salves ◽  
Paolla Wanglon ◽  
Ubiratã Kickhöfel Alves
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Accented English ◽  
L1 English

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of familiarity with Brazilian-accented English (L2) in the intelligibility of speech samples when judged by native English listeners. Speech samples were collected from five native Brazilian Portuguese individuals from Southern Brazil, with a pre-intermediate level of proficiency in English. Following a Complex Dynamic Systems account (De Bot et al., 2007), this is a longitudinal study in which a group of four British listeners participated in weekly intelligibility transcription tasks, applied over the course of five weeks. This group was comprised of individuals who had recently arrived in Brazil. Results suggest that familiarity with a speaker’s L1 and accented-L2 has an effect on the intelligibility of what is heard. From the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems, we argue that there is an alteration of a listener’s perception of his/her own language system due to exposure to it as an L2.

Role of modulation magnitude and phase spectrum towards speech intelligibility

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuldip Paliwal ◽  
Belinda Schwerin ◽  
Kamil Wójcicki
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Phase Spectrum

A sociolinguistic approach to implicit language attitudes towards historically white English accents among young L1 South African indigenous language speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (260) ◽  
pp. 131-153
Author(s):  
Pedro Álvarez-Mosquera ◽  
Alejandro Marín-Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Historically White ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Accented English ◽  
Type Of School

Abstract This study investigates the potential role of context-relevant sociolinguistic factors in explaining young L1 indigenous South African language speakers’ IAT (Implicit Association Test) scores towards two varieties largely associated with the white group: Standard South African English and Afrikaans accented English. To this end, a post-IAT sociolinguistic survey on participants’ linguistic background, language exposure and intergroup social distance levels (among other social factors) was used. Separate ANOVAS were performed using the IAT reaction times as a dependent variable and sociolinguistic variables as factors. Notably, the sociolinguistic approach revealed that more positive attitudes towards Afrikaans accented English are correlated with the language range of participants, the dominant languages spoken in their places of origin, and the type of school they have attended.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document