title: Mandarin Chinese vowel-plus-tone identification in noise: Effects of language experience.
abstract: Several studies found better English vowel identification in English multi-talker babble (MTB) and temporally-modulated (TM) noise, but not in quiet condition for native Chinese listeners in the US (CNU) with the US residency of 1-3 years than native Chinese listeners in China (CNC) with no residency history in English speaking countries. Two possible explanations were proposed: (1) CNU listeners used temporal dips of noise more efficiently than CNC listeners; and (2) CNU listeners had less informational masking of MTB than their CNC peers. The current study explored whether the difference in noise processing between CNU and CNC listeners was also presented for their native speech perception. Chinese vowel-plus-tone identifications were measured for CNU and CNC in quiet, stationary and TM noise, babble-modulated noise, and MTB. The identification scores of CNU listeners were significantly higher than CNC listeners in most noisy backgrounds, whereas both groups had the same performance in quiet. Moreover, compared with CNC listeners, CNU listeners gained greater masking releases from the temporal modulation in TM noise at low SNRs, whereas no significant difference was found in informational masking between the two groups. In conclusion, the native English experience may improve native Chinese listeners' capacity to use temporal glimpses in TM noise, possibly depending on the modulation frequency and depth, while it may not improve their ability to resist the informational masking of babble when perceiving their native speech.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; National Innovation Center for Assessment of Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Mingshuang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; National Innovation Center for Assessment of Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; National Innovation Center for Assessment of Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Sha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; National Innovation Center for Assessment of Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1100, Austin, TX, 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, TX, 78712, USA. Electronic address: changliu@utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010700:Phonetics; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mandarin vowel-plus-tone identification; Native Chinese listeners; Native English experience; Noise processing