Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e43753. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043753. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Extensive research shows that inter-talker variability (i.e., changing the talker) affects recognition memory for speech signals. However, relatively little is known about the consequences of intra-talker variability (i.e. changes in speaking style within a talker) on the encoding of speech signals in memory. It is well established that speakers can modulate the characteristics of their own speech and produce a listener-oriented, intelligibility-enhancing speaking style in response to communication demands (e.g., when speaking to listeners with hearing impairment or non-native speakers of the language). Here we conducted two experiments to examine the role of speaking style variation in spoken language processing. First, we examined the extent to which clear speech provided benefits in challenging listening environments (i.e. speech-in-noise). Second, we compared recognition memory for sentences produced in conversational and clear speaking styles. In both experiments, semantically normal and anomalous sentences were included to investigate the role of higher-level linguistic information in the processing of speaking style variability. The results show that acoustic-phonetic modifications implemented in listener-oriented speech lead to improved speech recognition in challenging listening conditions and, crucially, to a substantial enhancement in recognition memory for sentences.
大量研究表明，说话者间的变异性（即改变说话者）会影响言语信号的识别记忆。然而，对于说话者内变异性（即在说话者内部改变说话风格）对言语信号在记忆中的编码的影响，人们知之甚少。众所周知，说话者可以调节自己言语的特征，并根据交流需求（例如，当与有听力障碍的听众或语言的非母语者说话时）产生以听众为导向、提高可理解性的说话风格。在这里，我们进行了两项实验来研究说话风格变化在口语处理中的作用。首先，我们研究了清晰语音在具有挑战性的聆听环境（即语音噪声）中提供的益处的程度。其次，我们比较了在会话和清晰说话风格下产生的句子的识别记忆。在这两个实验中，都包含了语义正常和异常的句子，以研究在处理说话风格变异性时更高层次的语言信息的作用。结果表明，以听众为导向的言语中实施的声学语音修改可提高在具有挑战性的聆听条件下的语音识别能力，并且对句子的识别记忆有实质性的提高。
