Influences of visual speech information on the perception of foreign-accented speech in noise

International audienceThis study examined the extent to which visual speech assisted native Australian English speakers to perceive Japanese-accented English compared with Australian English spoken sentences presented in speech-shaped noise (SNR:-4dB). Twenty-one native Australian English listeners performed a speech perception in noise task with Japanese-accented and Australian English sentences in two conditions: an Audio-only condition (AO) and an Audiovisual condition (AV) where the talker's face was also shown. The results showed that the addition of visual speech information facilitated the speech perception for both Australian English and Japanese-accented English. However, the visual benefit was significantly smaller in the perception of Japanese-accented English, indicating that foreign-accented speech affects the visual speech benefit potentially due to non-native visual form and timing differences