Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 29;14(1):20069. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70820-w.
Communication is a fundamental aspect of human interaction, yet many individuals must speak in less-than-ideal acoustic environments daily. Adapting their speech to ensure intelligibility in these varied settings can impose a significant cognitive burden. Understanding this burden on talkers has significant implications for the design of public spaces and workplace environments, as well as speaker training programs. The aim of this study was to examine how room acoustics and speaking style affect cognitive load through self-rating of mental demand and pupillometry. Nineteen adult native speakers of American English were instructed to read sentences in both casual and clear speech-a technique known to enhance intelligibility-across three levels of reverberation (0.05 s, 1.2 s, and 1.83 s at 500-1000 Hz). Our findings revealed that speaking style consistently affects the cognitive load on talkers more than room acoustics across the tested reverberation range. Specifically, pupillometry data suggested that speaking in clear speech elevates the cognitive load comparably to speaking in a room with long reverberation, challenging the conventional view of clear speech as an 'easy' strategy for improving intelligibility. These results underscore the importance of accounting for talkers' cognitive load when optimizing room acoustics and developing speech production training.
沟通是人类互动的基本方面，但许多人每天都必须在不太理想的声学环境中讲话。为了确保在这些不同的环境中讲话的清晰度，他们可能需要调整自己的讲话方式，这可能会给他们带来很大的认知负担。了解说话者的这种负担对公共空间和工作场所环境的设计以及演讲者培训计划都具有重要意义。本研究旨在通过自我评估心理需求和瞳孔测量来研究房间 acoustics 和讲话方式如何通过自我评估心理需求和瞳孔测量来影响认知负荷。19 名以美式英语为母语的成年母语人士被要求用随意和清晰的语音阅读句子-这是一种已知可以提高可理解性的技术-在三个混响水平（500-1000Hz 时的 0.05s、1.2s 和 1.83s）下进行。我们的研究结果表明，在测试的混响范围内，讲话方式始终比房间 acoustics 更能影响说话者的认知负担。具体来说，瞳孔测量数据表明，清晰地讲话会与在混响时间长的房间中讲话一样，增加认知负担，这与将清晰地讲话视为提高可理解性的“简单”策略的传统观点相矛盾。这些结果强调了在优化房间 acoustics 和开发语音产生训练时，考虑说话者认知负担的重要性。
