Understanding native Russian listeners' errors on an English word recognition test: model-based analysis of phoneme confusion.
OBJECTIVE
Word recognition is a basic component in a comprehensive hearing evaluation, but data are lacking for listeners speaking two languages. This study obtained such data for Russian natives in the US and analysed the data using the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) and speech learning model (SLM).


METHODS
Listeners were randomly presented 200 NU-6 words in quiet. Listeners responded verbally and in writing. Performance was scored on words and phonemes (word-initial consonants, vowels, and word-final consonants).


METHODS
Seven normal-hearing, adult monolingual English natives (NM), 16 English-dominant (ED), and 15 Russian-dominant (RD) Russian natives participated. ED and RD listeners differed significantly in their language background.


RESULTS
Consistent with the SLM, NM outperformed ED listeners and ED outperformed RD listeners, whether responses were scored on words or phonemes. NM and ED listeners shared similar phoneme error patterns, whereas RD listeners' errors had unique patterns that could be largely understood via the PAM. RD listeners had particular difficulty differentiating vowel contrasts /i-I/, /æ-ε/, and /ɑ-Λ/, word-initial consonant contrasts /p-h/ and /b-f/, and word-final contrasts /f-v/.


CONCLUSIONS
Both first-language phonology and second-language learning history affect word and phoneme recognition. Current findings may help clinicians differentiate word recognition errors due to language background from hearing pathologies.
Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. lu.shi@liu.edu
Lu-Feng
LF
Shi
Natalia
N
Morozova
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012426:Russia / Q000208:ethnology; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult