Effects of Noise and Second Language on Conversational Dynamics in Task Dialogue.
A Josefine Munch Sørensen, Michal Fereczkowski, Ewen N MacDonald
PMID 34189999WHAT IT FOUND
Turn-taking timing changed only slightly, but pairs took longer on the task in noise and English, spoke louder in noise, and spoke slower in English.
For SLPs, noise and second language changed speech and interaction, not just turn timing.
Key findings
01Background noise increased speech level by 9.4 dB and increased task completion time by 31 seconds compared with quiet.
02Speaking English rather than Danish decreased articulation rate by 0.5 syllables per second and increased task completion time by 47 seconds, without changing speech level.
03Turn-taking timing changed only slightly: median floor-transfer offset increased 21 ms in noise and decreased 19 ms in English, while variability increased 41 ms in noise and 14 ms in English.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
It studied only 40 normal-hearing native-Danish adults who were comfortable in English, so it does not show what happens for talkers who are not normal-hearing or less comfortable in English. The task was a structured spot-the-difference puzzle with visual context, not free conversation, and the authors note this may have reduced verbal backchanneling. Turn-taking effects were small, and median floor-transfer offset decreased in English rather than increasing, opposite to the hypothesis. The authors suggest the noise and second-language conditions may not have been challenging enough to produce large turn-taking delays. Pairs knew each other well and repeated the task three times, so first-time conversations with strangers may differ.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. A.J.M.S. and a portion of the study were supported by the William Demant Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that noise or second language cause major turn-taking delays. The median floor-transfer offset changed by only 21 ms in noise and by 19 ms in the opposite direction in English, and the study used normal-hearing young adults in a lab puzzle task.