The effect of speech modification on non-native listeners for matrix-style sentences.

Speech can be modified to promote intelligibility in noise, but the potential benefits for non-native listeners are difficult to predict due to the additional presence of distortion introduced by speech alteration. The current study compared native and non-native listeners' keyword scores for simple sentences, unmodified and with six forms of modification. Both groups showed similar patterns of intelligibility change across conditions, with the native cohort benefiting slightly more in stationary noise. This outcome suggests that the change in masked audibility rather than distortion is the dominant factor governing listeners' responses to speech modification.