The Effects of Onset and Offset Masking on the Time Course of Non-Native Spoken-Word Recognition in Noise

Abstract

Using the visual-word paradigm, the present study investigated the effects of word onset and offset masking on the time course of non-native spoken-word recognition in the presence of background noise. In two experiments, Dutch non-native listeners heard English target words, preceded by carrier sentences that were noise-free (Experiment 1) or contained intermittent noise (Experiment 2). Target words were either onset- or offset-masked or not masked at all. Results showed that onset masking delayed target word recognition more than offset masking did, suggesting that – similar to natives – non-native listeners strongly rely on word onset information during word recognition in noise.

Recognizing non-native spoken words in background noise increases interference from the native language

“…Our results suggest that the presence of background noise delays target word recognition, as reflected in later and fewer looks to the target objects in noise compared to quiet -replicating earlier research (Hintz et al, 2021). Whereas noise delayed non-native target word recognition, it resulted in more fixations to the English competitors, reflecting enhanced non-native lexical competition.…”

“…Compared to speech in quiet, we predicted that noise delays the fixation biases for the target objects, reflecting delayed target word recognition (Hintz et al, 2021). Moreover, in line with the offline transcription data from Scharenborg et al (2018), we expected enhanced lexical competition in the non-native language in noise compared to speech in quiet, reflected in more looks to the English competitors (compared to the unrelated distractors) in noise.…”

“…The added noise spanned the whole duration of the sentence recording. Informed by two previous visual-world studies in our lab (Hintz & Scharenborg, 2016;Hintz et al, 2021), we chose a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of + 3 dB SPL. We aimed for a scenario where the presence of background noise would decrease the certainty with which listeners recognize the spoken targets while not resulting in substantial amounts of misperceptions.…”

“…In two previous studies, we explored the effects of noise on non-native word recognition. Using the visual-world paradigm, where participants' eye movements to objects are tracked as they listen to input related to a visual scene (for a review, see Huettig et al, 2011a), we found that non-native target word recognition (looks to the picture of a candle as Dutch listeners heard "candle") was delayed when targets were masked by background noise, reflecting delayed target word recognition (Hintz et al, 2021). Moreover, in a word transcription task, Scharenborg et al (2018) found that the number of Dutch listeners' unique misperceptions, an offline measure reflecting the number of words competing for recognition, on hearing an English target increased as the severity of noise on the target increased (see Karaminis et al, 2022, for a computational model capturing this behavior).…”

Inhibitory and facilitative effects of lexical neighbors in spoken word recognition: The role of language experience

“…The addition of noise in spoken word recognition has been shown to boost the activation of word offset neighbors in monolingual listeners (Brouwer & Bradlow, 2011, 2016McQueen & Huettig, 2012), which may explain why classroom learners, who were functionally monolingual, exhibited an inhibitory effect of phonological neighbors in both cohort and rhyme conditions. In contrast, bilingual listeners have been reported to strongly rely on word-initial information during spoken word recognition in noise (Coumans et al, 2014;Hintz et al, 2021), which may have contributed to the weak activation of rhyme competitors in the group of heritage learners, who were functionally bilingual. Additionally, noise has been shown to increase cross-language lexical competition during spoken word recognition (Guediche et al, 2023).…”