HESP Seminar: Sandra Gordon-Salant (HESP)

Title: Aging and the perception of Spanish-accented English

Abstract: Among the speech communication problems reported by older people is difficulty understanding accented English.  The extent of the problem results from an interplay between characteristics of the listener (age, hearing sensitivity, central auditory processing, cognitive abilities) and those of the communication scene (degree of talker accent, background noise).  This presentation will review findings on perception of native English and Spanish-accented English by younger and older listeners, which demonstrate that perception of segmental cues and supra-segmental stress and timing information in English is affected by talker accent, listener age, hearing status, temporal discrimination ability, and cognitive skills.  A recently completed study examining the impact of native language experience on perception of native English and accented English by younger and older listeners will also be presented.