Non-native English listeners' adaptation to native English speakers.

ABSTRACT

Listeners often have difficulty understanding unfamiliar speech (e.g., non-native speech), but they are able to adapt to or improve their ability to understand unfamiliar speech. However, it is unclear whether non-native listeners demonstrate adaptation to novel native English speech broadly with relatively limited exposure. Thus, this study examines non-native English listeners' adaptation to native English speakers and whether talker variability affects adaptation. Results suggest that while greater variability initially disrupts non-native English listeners' perception of native English speakers, listeners are able to rapidly adapt to novel speakers and exposure to greater variability could result in cross-talker generalization.