Children’s Recall of Words Spoken in Their First and Second Language: Effects of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Reverberation Time

Abstract

Speech perception runs smoothly and automatically when there is silence in the background, but when the speech signal is degraded by background noise or by reverberation, effortful cognitive processing is needed to compensate for the signal distortion. Previous research has typically investigated the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and reverberation time in isolation, whilst few have looked at their interaction. In this study, we probed how reverberation time and SNR influence recall of words presented in participants’ first- (L1) and second-language (L2). A total of 72 children (10 years old) participated in this study. The to-be-recalled wordlists were played back with two different reverberation times (0.3 and 1.2 s) crossed with two different SNRs (+3 dBA and +12 dBA). Children recalled fewer words when the spoken words were presented in L2 in comparison with recall of spoken words presented in L1. Words that were presented with a high SNR (+12 dBA) improved recall compared to a low SNR (+3 dBA). Reverberation time interacted with SNR to the effect that at +12 dB the shorter reverberation time improved recall, but at +3 dB it impaired recall. The effects of the physical sound variables (SNR and reverberation time) did not interact with language.

Student’s Second-Language Grade May Depend on Classroom Listening Position

“…Thus, the pupils who were good at reading English benefited significantly from a short reverberation time, while those who were not so good at reading English gained more benefit from a long reverberation time. Besides our previous research [ 5 – 6 ], we have not encountered any other research that has found an enhancement effect on recall or speech comprehension from a long reverberation time. All previous research on the effects of reverberation on recall and speech comprehension has only shown detrimental effects.…”

“…However, there is a possibility that reverberation not always has a detrimental effect. We have previously found in our research that a long reverberation time can improve recall for words spoken in English and Swedish when compared with a short reverberation time, at least when the signal-to-noise ratio is low [ 5 – 6 ].…”

Second language vocabulary level is related to benefits for second language listening comprehension under lower reverberation time conditions

“…Under environmental conditions in which the sound signal is degraded or distorted, a number of past experiments have shown that greater demands are placed on mediating cognitive processes. For example, poor acoustic conditions such as long RT and additional background noise have been shown to impair listening comprehension (Klatte, Lachmann, & Meis, 2010;Peng & Wang, 2016;Sörqvist, Hurtig, Ljung, & Rönnberg, 2014), memory of spoken words (Hurtig et al, 2016;, memory of spoken lectures (Ljung, Sörqvist, Kjellberg, & Green, 2009) and learning (Hygge, 2003;Hygge, Evans, & Bullinger, 2002). Therefore, acoustic conditions in environments in which education takes place should provide the highest quality acoustics as speech perception is such an important aspect of education.…”

“…However, the value of the acoustic environment for learning is underestimated in Sweden, as a consideration of the Board of Director's regulations, BBR (Boverkets Byggregler), for classroom environments indicate. As the BBR states that sound classroom environments must be in accordance with Swedish standards (SS25268: 2007), RT in a Swedish classroom must be in the range of 0.5-0.8 s as per specifications for buildings in sound Class C. It is unclear what motivates the BBR's choice of RT for Class C sound environments, but how speech perception is negatively affected as a function of increased RT has been considered in a number of studies (Hurtig et al, 2016;Klatte et al, 2010;Klatte, Bergstroem, & Lachmann, 2013;Ljung, 2010;Nábělek & Donahue, 1984;Sörqvist et al, 2014).…”

Wirkung von Nachhall in Bildungsräumen

“…Innerhalb der analysierten Literatur wurde in den beiden Arbeiten von Madbouley und Kollegen [27] [16,23]. Fazit dieser Studien ist somit, dass in Fällen, in denen die Sprachwahrnehmung (durch persönliche oder umweltbedinge Faktoren) beeinträchtigt ist, eine geringfügig längere Präsentationsdauer dazu führen kann, dass Worte leichter verstanden und besser erinnert werden können [16,23].…”