Work

Consistency in phonetic categorization predicts successful speech-in-noise perception

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Listeners bin continuous changes in the speech signal into phonetic categories but vary in how consistently/discretely they do so. Categorization may relate to speech-in-noise (SIN) perception. Yet, it is unclear if and how perceptual gradience, consistency, and other cognitive factors (e.g., working memory) collectively predict SIN performance. Here, we estimated perceptual gradiency and response consistency during vowel labeling and assessed working memory and SIN performance. We found perceptual consistency and working memory were the best predictors of listeners' SIN scores. Our findings emphasize the importance of perceptual consistency over categoricity for noise-degraded speech perception.

Source: JASA Express Letters

DOI: 10.1121/10.0041846

Authors: Rose Rizzi, Gavin M. Bidelman

Institutions: Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University

Language: English

Topic: Phonetics and Phonology Research

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Award: G1757293765