Voice Familiarization Training Improves Speech Intelligibility and Reduces Listening Effort.
Freja Baxter, Harriet J Smith, Emma Holmes
PMID 41358598WHAT IT FOUND
Training normal-hearing adults to recognize unfamiliar voices for 10 to 60 minutes improved speech-in-noise accuracy by 13-15% and lowered self-reported effort.
Pupillary responses only decreased after 60 minutes of training. These findings apply to healthy young adults, not hearing-impaired patients.
Key findings
01All three trained voices improved speech intelligibility compared to unfamiliar voices, with mean benefits of 15.1%, 13.2%, and 13.0% for the least, moderately, and most familiar conditions respectively.
02Self-reported effort was significantly lower for all three trained voices compared to unfamiliar voices, but pupillary responses (an objective measure of effort) were only significantly lower for the voice trained for the longest duration (~1 hour).
03The intelligibility benefit from voice familiarity was significant at a target-to-masker ratio of +3 dB but not at -6 dB, suggesting the benefit may be confined to less challenging listening conditions in this specific experiment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted of 20 young adults with normal hearing, so results may not generalize to older adults or individuals with hearing loss who face greater communication challenges. The study was not preregistered, which reduces confidence in the statistical findings. The intelligibility benefit was significant at +3 dB but not at -6 dB, contrary to some previous research suggesting familiarity helps most in difficult conditions. Self-reported effort and pupillometry diverged, with only the longest training duration affecting pupil dilation, suggesting different sensitivities or potential response biases in self-report measures.
Declared interests
The work was funded by the Experimental Psychology Society and Wellcome. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume voice familiarity training will help patients with hearing loss or in very noisy environments. The study used young adults with normal hearing, and the intelligibility benefit disappeared in the most difficult listening condition tested (-6 dB signal-to-noise ratio).