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Speakers exhibit a multimodal Lombard effect in noise.

ABSTRACT: In everyday conversation, we are often challenged with communicating in non-ideal settings, such as in noise. Increased speech intensity and larger mouth movements are used to overcome noise in constrained settings (the Lombard effect). How we adapt to noise in face-to-face interaction, the natural environment of human language use, where manual gestures are ubiquitous, is currently unknown. We asked Dutch adults to wear headphones with varying levels of multi-talker babble while attempting to communicate action verbs to one another. Using quantitative motion capture and acoustic analyses, we found that (1) noise is associated with increased speech intensity and enhanced gesture kinematics and mouth movements, and (2) acoustic modulation only occurs when gestures are not present, while kinematic modulation occurs regardless of co-occurring speech. Thus, in face-to-face encounters the Lombard effect is not constrained to speech but is a multimodal phenomenon where the visual channel carries most of the communicative burden.

SUBMITTER: Trujillo J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8373897 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Speakers exhibit a multimodal Lombard effect in noise.

Trujillo James J Özyürek Asli A Holler Judith J Drijvers Linda L

Scientific reports 20210818 1

In everyday conversation, we are often challenged with communicating in non-ideal settings, such as in noise. Increased speech intensity and larger mouth movements are used to overcome noise in constrained settings (the Lombard effect). How we adapt to noise in face-to-face interaction, the natural environment of human language use, where manual gestures are ubiquitous, is currently unknown. We asked Dutch adults to wear headphones with varying levels of multi-talker babble while attempting to c ...[more]

PMID: 34408178

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Project description:BackgroundStudies investigating auditory perception of gender expression vary greatly in the specific terms applied to gender expression in rating scales.PurposeThis study examined the effects of different anchor terms on listeners' auditory perceptions of gender expression in phonated and whispered speech. Additionally, token and speaker cues were examined to identify predictors of the auditory-perceptual ratings.MethodInexperienced listeners (n = 105) completed an online rating study in which they were asked to use one of five visual analog scales (VASs) to rate cis men, cis women, and transfeminine speakers in both phonated and whispered speech. The VASs varied by anchor term (very female/very male, feminine/masculine, feminine female/masculine male, very feminine/not at all feminine, and not at all masculine/very masculine).ResultsLinear mixed-effects models revealed significant two-way interactions of gender expression by anchor term and gender expression by condition. In general, the feminine female/masculine male scale resulted in the most extreme ratings (closest to the end points), and the feminine/masculine scale resulted in the most central ratings. As expected, for all speakers, whispered speech was rated more centrally than phonated speech. Additionally, ratings of phonated speech were predicted by mean fundamental frequency (f o) within each speaker group and by smoothed cepstral peak prominence in cisgender speakers. In contrast, ratings of whispered speech, which lacks an f o, were predicted by indicators of vocal tract resonance (second formant and speaker height).ConclusionsThe current results indicate that differences in the terms applied to rating scales limit generalization of results across studies. Identifying the patterns across listener ratings of gender expression provide a rationale for researchers and clinicians when making choices about terms. Additionally, beyond f o and vocal tract resonance, predictors of listener ratings vary based on the anchor terms used to describe gender expression.Supplemental materialhttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19617564.

Dataset Information

Speakers exhibit a multimodal Lombard effect in noise.

Publications

Speakers exhibit a multimodal Lombard effect in noise.

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