Identification of English /r/ and /l/ in noise: The effects of baseline performance

The effects of baseline performance on identification of English /r/ and /l/ in noise by Japanese listeners were examined. Japanese and American listeners’ perception of /r/ and /l/ was measured under various signal‐to‐noise ratios. Each Japanese listener’s baseline performance was also observed with an identification test with a large set of stimuli. Generally, the signal‐to‐noise ratio had a similar effect across Japanese listeners of different baseline performances, although the overall accuracy was dominated by the baseline. When 15 days of /r/‐/l/ identification training in quiet were applied to a group of Japanese listeners, the training effect generalized to identification performance in noise. However, the performance of Japanese listeners did not reach the level that the native listeners exhibited. [Work supported by JSPS and 21st Century COE, Kyushu University.]