Perceptual Adaptation for L1 and L2 Accents in Noise by Monolingual British English Listeners

Native (L1) listeners are more accurate at understanding speech spoken in their own accent in noise than they are at understanding speech spoken in other L1 or non-native (L2) accents. The present study investigated whether this accent advantage is affected by perceptual adaptation. Standard Southern British English (SE) listeners were presented with L1 and L2 accents in noise, either in single-talker blocks (i.e., one accent, designed to promote adaptation) or in mixed blocks. The results demonstrated that there was significant adaptation to accents, but that there was no interaction between the type of accent and the amount of learning. That is, listeners adapted similarly to all accents, regardless of whether they were familiar or unfamiliar, or L1 or L2. This suggests that listeners' advantage for familiar L1 accents is retained even when listeners have time to tune into the accents of a particular talker.