How noise and language proficiency influence speech recognition by individual non-native listeners

Abstract

This study investigated how speech recognition in noise is affected by language proficiency for individual non-native speakers. The recognition of English and Chinese sentences was measured as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in sixty native Chinese speakers who never lived in an English-speaking environment. The recognition score for speech in quiet (which varied from 15%-92%) was found to be uncorrelated with speech recognition threshold (SRTQ/2), i.e. the SNR at which the recognition score drops to 50% of the recognition score in quiet. This result demonstrates separable contributions of language proficiency and auditory processing to speech recognition in noise.