Abstract

Hearing unfamiliar second language (L2) accented speech reduces intelligibility (i.e. accuracy of speech understanding) and increases the listening effort (i.e. deliberate allocation of cognitive resources) required to process the speech. However, listeners readily adapt to L2-accented speech, improving intelligibility and reducing listening effort. The type of exposure that may lead to lower listening effort when generalizing knowledge to a new speaker of the same accent has yet to be explored. We exposed native English speakers to English sentences spoken by native English speakers, highly intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented English speakers, or less intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented English speakers. While measuring pupil dilation (an index of listening effort), all listeners then heard the same unfamiliar Mandarin Chinese-accented English speaker. Results showed lower pupil dilation (listening effort) for listeners previously exposed to less intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented speech compared to those with no L2-accent exposure. These findings suggest that the effects of adaptation on listening effort during generalization may be driven by similarity between exposure and test speaker(s) and/or the effortfulness of initial exposure.

Committee Chair

Kristin J. Van Engen

Committee Members

Ian G. Dobbins Mitchell S. Sommers

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

Psychology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Winter 12-17-2025

Language

English (en)

Author's ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8695-2162

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