Age of second-language acquisition and perception of speech in noise

Author(s): Florentine, M., Buus, S.

Journal/Book: J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1997; 40: 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-3279. Amer Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc. 686-693.

Abstract: To determine how age of acquisition influences perception of second-language speech, the Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) test was administered to native Mexican-Spanish-speaking listeners who learned fluent English before age 6 (early bilinguals) or after age 14 (late bilinguals) and monolingual American-English speakers (monolinguals). Results show that the levels of noise at which the speech was intelligible were significantly higher and the benefit from concert was significantly greater for monolinguals and early bilinguals than for late bilinguals. These findings indicate that learning a second language at an early age is important for the acquisition of efficient high-level processing of it, at least in the presence of noise.

Note: Article Florentine M, Northeastern Univ, Dept Speech Language Pathol & Audiol, 133 Forsyth Bldg, Boston,MA 02115 USA

Keyword(s): second language; speech in noise; age of acquisition; age of learning; non-native speech perception; INFANTS

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