How Talker Variability Affects Cantonese Lexical Tone Perception: Testing Models of Talker Adaptation in a Tone...

Area of Science:

• Auditory Perception
• Psychoacoustics
• Linguistics

Background:

• Adapting to talker variability typically incurs a cost to speech perception.
• The mechanisms underlying multitalker processing cost (MTPC) are debated, with theories focusing on acoustic-phonetic recomputation or attentional reorientation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the mechanisms of MTPC in Cantonese lexical tone perception.
• To determine if MTPC involves acoustic-phonetic recomputation or attentional reorientation.
• To examine the role of talker variability and listener expectations in MTPC.

Main Methods:

• A within-subject tone identification task was conducted using Cantonese.
• Two types of tone pairs differing in fundamental frequency (F0) height and contour were used.
• The number of talkers was manipulated (1, 2, 4, 8), and accuracy, response time, and efficiency were measured.

Main Results:

• MTPC increased gradually as the number of talkers increased from one to four.
• No additional cost was observed when increasing talkers from four to eight.
• The magnitude of MTPC was modulated by listener expectations.

Conclusions:

• Talker adaptation in lexical tone perception is an active process involving initial recomputation that plateaus with exposure.
• The mechanisms differ from English vowel perception, highlighting language-specific phonetic demands.
• Cross-linguistic approaches are necessary for understanding multitalker processing.