title: Vowel identification in temporal-modulated noise for native and non-native listeners: Effect of language experience.
abstract: A previous study found that English vowel identification in babble was significantly different between Chinese-native listeners in China and in the U.S. One possible explanation is that native English experiences might change Chinese-native listeners' ability to take advantage of the temporal modulation in noise for their English vowel perception. As a follow-up, the current study explored whether there was a difference between the two groups of Chinese listeners in using temporal gaps in noise for English vowel identification. Vowel identification in temporally modulated noise and a temporal modulation transfer function (TMTF) was measured for American-English-native listeners (EN), Chinese-native listeners in the U.S. (CNU), and Chinese-native listeners in China (CNC). The results revealed that TMTFs were similar across the three groups, indicating that psychophysical temporal processing was independent of listeners' language backgrounds. However, for vowel identification in noise, EN and CNU listeners showed significantly greater masking release from the temporal modulation of noise than CNC listeners at low signal-to-noise ratios (e.g., -12 dB). Altogether, native English experiences may change the use of temporal cues in noise for English vowel identification for Chinese-native listeners.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1100, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1100, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Sha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult