What we do (not) know about the mechanisms underlying adaptive speech perception: A computational framework and review

Xie, Xin; Kurumada, Chigusa; Jaeger, T. Florian

doi:10.31234/osf.io/hgdn4

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 170 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…Prior work examining listener adaptation to unique speaker productions can be divided into two primary paradigms (following the framework outlined in Xie et al, 2023): perceptual (or "phonemic") recalibration and accent adaptation. The former method, utilized in the present study, aims to measure changes in category representations.…”

Section: Adaptation To Second Language Accentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to second language accent prompts recalibration of phonemic categories

McLaughlin,

Samuel

2024

Preprint

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We examine how first language (L1) Spanish listeners with varying levels of experience with English recalibrate their phonemic category boundaries following exposure to second language (L2), American English-accented Spanish. Specifically, we examine changes to voice onset time (VOT) boundaries, which are often positively-shifted when produced by American English-accented Spanish speakers (as compared to L1 Spanish speakers). Our results demonstrate that listeners make adjustments to their phonemic category boundaries following exposure to accented words with the critical sounds in onset position (e.g., “bailar” and “parir”, meaning “to dance” and “to give birth”, for the /b/ and /p/ phonemic categories). In many cases generalization of phonemic learning was also observed, such that boundaries for categories that were not presented in training were also adjusted. Surprisingly, however, there were cases in which boundaries for trained categories did not show adjustments; for example, listeners trained with items for all places of articulation (POAs) showed recalibration of their bilabial and alveolar boundaries but not their velar boundary. Also notable was the role of the Spanish listeners' experience with English: More experienced listeners showed more positively-shifted (English-like) boundaries in the pre-test session. This suggests that more experienced listeners may have rapidly identified the American English-accented Spanish and applied their English category boundaries accordingly. We conclude that listener accommodation of L2 accent is supported by a phonemic recalibration mechanism, and that experience with the L1 of an L2-accented speaker facilitates rapid recalibration of phonemic categories.

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Section: Adaptation To Second Language Accentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to second language accent prompts recalibration of phonemic categories

McLaughlin,

Samuel

2024

Preprint

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“…Computational evidence fromXie et al (2023) suggests that many of the benefits observed in adaptive speech perception experiments may be explained by multiple mechanisms, including: (1) changes to phonemic representations, (2) pre-linguistic signal normalization, and (3) changes in post-perceptual decision-making criteria.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Effects of Brief Daily Exposure to Unfamiliar Accent on Listening Performance and Cognitive Load

McLaughlin¹,

Engen²,

Baese‐Berk³

2023

Preprint

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Listeners rapidly “tune” to unfamiliar accented speech, and some evidence also suggests that they may improve over multiple days of exposure. The present study aimed to measure accommodation of unfamiliar second language- (L2-) accented speech over a consecutive five day period using both a measure of listening effort (a dual-task paradigm) and a measure of listening performance (intelligibility). All subjects completed a dual-task paradigm with L1 and L2 accent on Days 1 and 5, and were exposed to either L1 (control group) or unfamiliar L2 (training groups) accent on Days 2-4. One training group was given a purely exposure-based training, and another was given implicit feedback. Results indicated a performance benefit for L2 accent perception from the exposure-based training but not the exposure-with-feedback training. All groups, including the control group, showed reduced listening effort on Day 5 of the study, reflecting adaptation to the task, but the training groups did not show greater reductions for the L2 accent in particular. Thus, our results indicate that even small amounts of daily exposure to an unfamiliar accent may improve listeners’ ability to understand speakers, but this exposure does not necessarily reduce the cognitive effort associated with processing accented speech, and may not be benefitted by implicit feedback.

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What we do (not) know about the mechanisms underlying adaptive speech perception: A computational framework and review

Cited by 2 publications

References 170 publications

Exposure to second language accent prompts recalibration of phonemic categories

Exposure to second language accent prompts recalibration of phonemic categories

Exploring Effects of Brief Daily Exposure to Unfamiliar Accent on Listening Performance and Cognitive Load

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