Nonnative phonetic category training in varying acoustic environments

Past research has shown that reverberation has a pronounced detrimental effect on speech intelligibility, but no previous studies investigated how it affects the acquisition of novel phonetic categories. Here, we present a follow-up to a previous study that examined adult nonnative phonetic learning using speech stimuli presented in reverberant environments [Vlahou et al. (2014), ARO Abstract #806]. Listeners were trained to discriminate a novel dental-retroflex contrast in Hindi. Using virtual acoustics, stimuli were presented in anechoic space, in a single room, or in multiple rooms. For some subjects, training was supervised, consisting of a 2AFC categorization task with trial-by-trial feedback. For other subjects, training was unsupervised, in the form of a videogame which promoted stimulus-reward contingencies. Performance was evaluated on trained and untrained sounds presented in familiar and unfamiliar rooms. Overall, trained listeners outperformed untrained listeners. Supervised training induced m...