Effect of ambient noise on the comprehension of synthetic speech

The researcher conducted a study to investigate the effect of ambient noise on the comprehension of synthetic speech in English by native speakers of English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Passages of synthetic speech 300 words in length were presented to participants under quiet and ambient noise listening conditions (60 dB +/-6 dB SPL). An omnibus analysis performed on participants' raw scores for comprehension accuracy revealed a main effect for noise and an insignificant main effect for native language. That is, comprehension scores for all participants were lower in the ambient noise condition regardless of native language. Some findings from this study support the theory that synthetic speech compromises listeners' short-term memory processes. Finally, participants rated the synthetic speech poorly on the portrayal of social characteristics. Conclusions are drawn regarding the application of the results of this study to the design of speech-enabled user-system interactions.