Research in the Speech Perception Laboratory focuses on the perceptual consequences of phonetic variability in speech. The main topics under investigation are how listeners represent and adapt to the variability present in the speech signal, how environmental degradation (e.g., noise) influences perception of unfamiliar speech varieties, and how children develop the ability to accurately perceive highly variable speech signals. We are particularly interested in the perception of nonnative accents and regional dialects as well as how listeners' native languages, dialect backgrounds, and cognitive-linguistic skills shape their speech perception abilities.
The College of Arts