The role of language familiarity in voice identification

Abstract

Four experiments examined the effects of language characteristics on voice identification. In Experiment 1, monolingual English listeners identified bilinguals' voices much better when they spoke English than when they spoke German. The opposite outcome was found in Experiment 2, in which the listeners were monolingual in German. In Experiment 3, monolingual English listeners also showed better voice identification when bilinguals spoke a familiar language (English) than when they spoke an unfamiliar one (Spanish). However, English-Spanish bilinguals hearing the same voices showed a different pattern, with the English-Spanish difference being statistically eliminated. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that, for English-dominant listeners, voice recognition deteriorates systematically as the passage being spoken is made less similar to English by rearranging words, rearranging syllables, and reversing normal text. Taken together, the four experiments confirm that language familiarity plays an important role in voice identification.

Gradient language dominance affects talker learning

“…Recent studies suggest a relationship between knowing a language and ability to identify talkers in that language (Goggin et al, 1991;Johnson et al, 2011;Perrachione et al, 2011;Sullivan and Schlichting, 2000;Winters et al, 2008). This radically departs from a viewpoint that speech processing operates over an abstract set of symbols.…”

“…Perrachione et al (2011) found that individual dyslexic listeners' degree of impairment in phonological processing predicts their ability to recognize voices in their native language. Goggin et al (1991) demonstrated that monolingual English speakers identified English-German bilinguals' voices better when those individuals spoke English than when they spoke German (see also Winters et al, 2008). On the other hand, Goggin et al observed no significant difference in voice recognition abilities for English-Spanish bilinguals who were tested on Englishvs.…”

The effect of removing linguistic information upon identifying speakers of a foreign language

“…To test this hypothesis, we designed an experiment in which we tried to eliminate linguistic information as much as possible. In an additional experiment, Goggin et al (1991) showed that distortion of the stimulus material severely affects speaker recognition. They used four different types of materials -i.e., normal text passages, mixed words, mixed syllables, and reversed speech -and found that the proportion of correct responses decreased as the passages became progressively more incomprehensible.…”

“…They used four different types of materials -i.e., normal text passages, mixed words, mixed syllables, and reversed speech -and found that the proportion of correct responses decreased as the passages became progressively more incomprehensible. Goggin et al (1991) only tested English-dominant listeners. In other words, they did not test whether the foreign-language effect in SIO disappears when the materials become incomprehensible.…”

“…Goggin et al (1991) carried out a series of identification experiments focusing on the listeners' familiarity with the language of the speakers. In their first experiment, six male English-German bilinguals produced an English and a German version of two different text passages.…”