The influence of non-native language proficiency on speech perception performance

Kilman, Lisa; Zekveld, Adriana A.; Hällgren, Mathias; Rönnberg, Jerker

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00651

Cited by 63 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…As noted earlier, the performance in the HINT differs from the identification of final words in sentences, as the HINT requires participants to correctly repeat the entire of sentences in an adaptive SNR. These findings were recently supported by Kilman, Zekveld, Hällgren, and Rönnberg (2014) who reported a significant relationship between the HINT (steady-state noise) and reading span test in normal-hearing listeners. These !…”

Section: ! ! 34!supporting

confidence: 58%

Time is of the essence in speech perception! : Get it fast, or think about it

Moradi¹

2014

Studies From the Swedish Institute for Disability Research

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Speech recognition occurs when attending to speech stimuli in auditory, visual, or audiovisual modalities under optimum (e.g., in silence) or degraded listening conditions (i.e., in background noise or in individuals with hearing impairment). The present thesis contains details of the first study to show how background noise (steady-state white noise) delayed the identification of different types of speech stimuli (consonants, words, and final words in sentence) in auditory and audiovisual modalities by calculating the isolation points (IPs, the shortest time from the onset of an speech stimulus required for correct identification of that speech stimulus). The cognitive demands of perceiving speech stimuli under each type of listening condition (silence vs. noise) were also tested by measuring the correlations between IPs of each type of speech stimulus (in each type of listening condition) and tests of working memory capacity (i.e., the reading span test, Rönnberg, Arlinger, Lyxell, & Kinnefors, 1989) and attentional capacity (i.e., the Paced Auditory Serial Attention Gronwall, 1977). In addition, the speechreading of words in both silent and noisy (babble background noise and steady-state white noise) conditions was also investigated in above-average speechreaders. The present thesis also compared elderly hearing-aid (EHA) users and elderly normal-hearing (ENH) individuals, in terms of IPs and accuracy in the identification of different types of speech stimuli in silence. Furthermore, the extent to which the identification of auditory speech stimuli was cognitively demanding (for both EHA users and ENH individuals) was investigated by measuring the correlations between IPs and accuracies of different types of speech stimuli and working memory capacity.The results showed that background noise resulted in later IPs (in the auditory and audiovisual modalities) and reduced accuracy (in the auditory, visual, and audiovisual modalities). In visual speech recognition (speechreading), the adverse effect of noise on accuracy was dependent on the type of background noise: babble background noise reduced accuracy but the steady-state white noise did not. In addition, the audiovisual presentation of speech stimuli, relative to auditory presentation, resulted in earlier IPs and more accurate identification of speech stimuli in both silence and noise. In the silent condition, the IPs for perceiving different types of auditory and audiovisual speech stimuli were not correlated with performance on the tests of working memory and attention. In the noise condition, the IPs of consonants and words in the auditory-only condition were significantly correlated with tests for measuring explicit cognitive resources. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the results on a test of speech-in-noise performance (the HINT, Hällgren, Larsby, & Arlinger, 2006) and the results on tests of working memory (the reading span test, Rönnberg et al., 1989) and attention (PASAT, Gronwall, 1977). A secondary finding was that ...

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Section: ! ! 34!supporting

confidence: 58%

Time is of the essence in speech perception! : Get it fast, or think about it

Moradi¹

2014

Studies From the Swedish Institute for Disability Research

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“…Understanding speech in the presence of noise has been demonstrated to be more difficult for non‐native than for native listeners (Bradlow & Alexander, ; Brouwer, Van Engen, Calandruccio, & Bradlow, ; Kilman, Zekveld, Hällgren, & Rönnberg, ; Mayo, Florentine, & Buus, ; Scharenborg, Coumans, & van Hout, ; Scharenborg & van Os, ), even when non‐native listeners are highly proficient (Cutler, Garcia Lecumberri, & Cooke, ). As noise decreases the available acoustic information in the speech signal, it might be more difficult for non‐native listeners to make a phonological mapping between the speech signal and perceptual/linguistic representations, as these might have not been fully tuned to the non‐native language (Flege, ; Iverson et al, ; Lecumberri et al, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Degree of Language Experience Modulates Visual Attention to Visible Speech and Iconic Gestures During Clear and Degraded Speech Comprehension

2019

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Visual information conveyed by iconic hand gestures and visible speech can enhance speech comprehension under adverse listening conditions for both native and non‐native listeners. However, how a listener allocates visual attention to these articulators during speech comprehension is unknown. We used eye‐tracking to investigate whether and how native and highly proficient non‐native listeners of Dutch allocated overt eye gaze to visible speech and gestures during clear and degraded speech comprehension. Participants watched video clips of an actress uttering a clear or degraded (6‐band noise‐vocoded) action verb while performing a gesture or not, and were asked to indicate the word they heard in a cued‐recall task. Gestural enhancement was the largest (i.e., a relative reduction in reaction time cost) when speech was degraded for all listeners, but it was stronger for native listeners. Both native and non‐native listeners mostly gazed at the face during comprehension, but non‐native listeners gazed more often at gestures than native listeners. However, only native but not non‐native listeners' gaze allocation to gestures predicted gestural benefit during degraded speech comprehension. We conclude that non‐native listeners might gaze at gesture more as it might be more challenging for non‐native listeners to resolve the degraded auditory cues and couple those cues to phonological information that is conveyed by visible speech. This diminished phonological knowledge might hinder the use of semantic information that is conveyed by gestures for non‐native compared to native listeners. Our results demonstrate that the degree of language experience impacts overt visual attention to visual articulators, resulting in different visual benefits for native versus non‐native listeners.

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“…One fMRI study conducted by Perani and colleagues (1998) took into consideration AoA and proficiency to examine overall representation of the first and second language, but the study was not specific to the domain of speech perception. A recent study by Kilman and colleagues (2014) examines the effect of language proficiency on speech perception in noise but it does not take AoA or SES into consideration. It is important to understand the neural processes underlying speech perception in bilinguals because future applied research can investigate how bilingual perception impacts other linguistic skills and language development.…”

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The effect of age of acquisition, socioeducational status, and proficiency on the neural processing of second language speech sounds

2015

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This study investigates the role of age of acquisition (AoA), socioeducational status (SES), and second language (L2) proficiency on the neural processing of L2 speech sounds. In a task of pre-attentive listening and passive viewing, Spanish-English bilinguals and a control group of English monolinguals listened to English syllables while watching a film of natural scenery. Eight regions of interest were selected from brain areas involved in speech perception and executive processes. The regions of interest were examined in 2 separate two-way ANOVA (AoA × SES; AoA × L2 proficiency). The results showed that AoA was the main variable affecting the neural response in L2 speech processing. Direct comparisons between AoA groups of equivalent SES and proficiency level enhanced the intensity and magnitude of the results. These results suggest that AoA, more than SES and proficiency level, determines which brain regions are recruited for the processing of second language speech sounds.

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The influence of non-native language proficiency on speech perception performance

Cited by 63 publications

References 47 publications

Time is of the essence in speech perception! : Get it fast, or think about it

Time is of the essence in speech perception! : Get it fast, or think about it

Degree of Language Experience Modulates Visual Attention to Visible Speech and Iconic Gestures During Clear and Degraded Speech Comprehension

The effect of age of acquisition, socioeducational status, and proficiency on the neural processing of second language speech sounds

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