In two eye-tracking experiments using the Visual World Paradigm, we examined how listeners recognize words when faced with speech at lower intensities (40, 50, and 65 dBA). After hearing the target word, participants (n = 32) clicked the corresponding picture from a display of four images - a target (e.g., money), a cohort competitor (e.g., mother), a rhyme competitor (e.g., honey) and an unrelated item (e.g., whistle) - while their eye-movements were tracked. For slightly soft speech (50 dBA), listeners demonstrated an increase in cohort activation, whereas for rhyme competitors, activation started later and was sustained longer in processing. For very soft speech (40 dBA), listeners waited until later in processing to activate potential words, as illustrated by a decrease in activation for cohorts, and an increase in activation for rhymes. Further, the extent to which words were considered depended on word length (mono- vs. bi-syllabic words), and speech-extrinsic factors such as the surrounding listening environment. These results advance current theories of spoken word recognition by considering a range of speech levels more typical of everyday listening environments. From an applied perspective, these results motivate models of how individuals who are hard of hearing approach the task of recognizing spoken words.

中文翻译：

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软语音过程中基于语音识别的认知过程。

在两个使用“视觉世界范例”进行的眼动追踪实验中，我们研究了听众在面对较低强度（40、50和65 dBA）的语音时如何识别单词。听到目标词后，参与者（n = 32）从四个图像的显示中单击了相应的图片-目标（例如金钱），同类竞争者（例如母亲），押韵竞争者（例如蜂蜜）和不相关的项目（例如，口哨声）-在跟踪他们的眼动时。对于轻微柔和的语音（50 dBA），听众表现出队列激活的增加，而对于韵律竞争对手，激活开始较晚，并且在处理过程中持续时间更长。对于非常柔和的语音（40 dBA），听众会等到稍后进行处理以激活潜在的单词，如队列的激活减少和韵律的激活所示。此外，单词的考虑程度取决于单词长度（单音节与双音节词）以及语音外在因素（例如周围的聆听环境）。这些结果通过考虑日常聆听环境中更典型的语音水平范围，推动了当前的语音识别理论。从应用的角度来看，这些结果激发了人们的模型，这些模型使听觉困难的人如何完成识别语音的任务。