Audience design affects acoustic reduction via production facilitation

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Speech Production
• Audience Design

Background:

• Acoustic variation in speech may stem from audience design, where speakers adapt to listeners.
• Previous research suggested acoustic prominence is independent of the speaker's estimation of addressee knowledge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if acoustic variation is influenced by listener feedback on message comprehension.
• To test the hypothesis that speakers modify speech based on real-time understanding of their audience.

Main Methods:

• A novel experimental paradigm was employed, focusing on listener feedback.
• Speakers provided object placement instructions to listeners.
• Listeners' actions (anticipating or waiting for instructions) provided feedback on their understanding.

Main Results:

• Speakers exhibited audience design effects, speaking faster and shortening function words (e.g., 'the') when listeners anticipated instructions.
• No significant acoustic changes (duration, amplitude, intelligibility) were observed in content words (e.g., 'teapot').

Conclusions:

• Listener understanding directly influences speech production processes, leading to acoustic adjustments.
• These findings support a model where listener feedback facilitates ongoing production, rather than pre-determining specific acoustic forms.