Effect of background noise on perception of English speech for Japanese listeners.
OBJECTIVE
To avoid the accidents induced by confusions of non-native speech perception in the presence of noise at work, this study examined the effect of background noise on the discrimination of English speech for Japanese listeners.


METHODS
Normal hearing Japanese subjects, who have English learning experience to the level of college graduates, were tested with the CID W-22 word list in quiet settings and in the presence of white, low-frequency weighted (pink noise), or aircraft noise.


RESULTS
The discrimination scores were reduced as S/N ratio decreased, and more adversely affected by background white noise than pink or aircraft noise. The individual variability of English word discrimination scores for Japanese listeners was much larger as the S/N ratio decreased. The typical confusions among phoneme were /m/, /n/, and /s/.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggested that ineffective use of speech cues and difference in composition of English phonemes from Japanese could be responsible for degraded speech discrimination of non-native speech in noise. Moreover, it was expected that Japanese workers with age related hearing loss at higher frequencies might have great difficulty in perceiving English speech sounds in the presence of noise.
Shimizu
Takashi
T
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Iseigaoka 1-1, Yahatanishi-ku, 807-8555, Kitakyushu, Japan. simitan@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp
Makishima
Kazumi
K
Yoshida
Masafumi
M
Yamagishi
Hidetoshi
H
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009623:Noise, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013067:Speech Perception