Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 18, 2026
09:09
Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
Published on: September 27, 2024
957
Missing phonemes are perceptually restored but differently by native and non-native listeners.
1Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, 7-1, Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8554 Japan.
Springerplus
|July 5, 2016
Summary
Native and non-native English speakers perceive masked phonemes differently. Both groups better restored missing nasals than liquids, with native speakers using word context more effectively.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Auditory Perception
- Second Language Acquisition
Background:
- Understanding phonemic restoration is crucial for speech perception, especially in noisy environments.
- Investigating how native and non-native speakers process degraded speech provides insights into language processing differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the perception of present but masked (added) versus absent (replaced) English phonemes by native and non-native speakers.
- To examine the differential restoration of nasal (/m/, /n/) and liquid (/l/, /r/) phonemes.
- To explore the influence of lexical information (words vs. non-words) on phonemic restoration.
Main Methods:
- Participants (native English and native Japanese speakers of English) listened to English words and non-words with phonemes either added with noise or replaced by noise.
- A pairwise similarity judgment task was used, comparing noisy stimuli to original sounds on an 8-point scale.
- Target phonemes included nasals (/m/, /n/) and liquids (/l/, /r/).
Main Results:
- Both native and non-native speakers perceived 'added' phonemes as more similar to originals than 'replaced' phonemes.
- Nasals were restored more effectively than liquids by both speaker groups.
- Native speakers showed better restoration in words than non-words, while non-native speakers demonstrated equal restoration across both.
Conclusions:
- Phonemic restoration involves distinct processing strategies for native and non-native speakers.
- Bottom-up acoustic cues and top-down lexical information are utilized differently based on language background.
- Findings highlight the complex interplay of acoustic and lexical factors in second language speech perception.
Related Concept Videos
01:17Auditory Perception
1.4K
The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the...
1.4K
01:01Perception of Sound Waves
5.9K
The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
5.9K
01:16Interference and Decay
567
Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
567
01:10Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
615
The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon is a cognitive experience characterized by a temporary inability to retrieve specific information from memory despite having a strong feeling of knowing the information. Although individuals cannot access the target word or detail, they frequently recall related elements, such as its initial letter, syllable count, or context. This partial retrieval often causes frustration, as one might recognize a familiar face or know that a name starts with a specific...
615
01:24Prosopagnosia
1.1K
Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is the inability to recognize faces. In severe cases, individuals with prosopagnosia may not recognize close family members, including parents and spouses, by their faces. For instance, someone with prosopagnosia might walk past their child in a crowd, only realizing their mistake upon noticing their child's distinctive backpack or favorite jacket. Prosopagnosia specifically impairs facial recognition, while the recognition of other objects or...
1.1K
01:31Hearing
58.5K
When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
58.5K