Publications

Speech recognition in noise is harder in second L2 than first languages L1. This could be becausenoise disrupts speech processing more in L2 than L1, or because L1 listeners recover better thoughdisruption is equivalent. Two similar prior studies produced discrepant results: Equivalent noiseeffects for L1 and L2 Dutch listeners, versus larger effects for L2 Spanish than L1. To explainthis, the latter experiment was presented to listeners from the former population. Larger noise effectson consonant identification emerged for L2 Dutch than L1 listeners, suggesting that task factorsrather than L2 population differences underlie the results discrepancy.