Noise makes speech perception much more challenging for non-native listeners than for native listeners. Training for non-native speech perception is usually implemented in quiet. It remains unclear if background noise may benefit or hamper non-native speech perception learning. In this study, 51 Chinese-native listeners were randomly assigned into three groups, including vowel training in quiet (TIQ), vowel training in noise (TIN), and watching videos in English as an active control. Vowel identification was assessed before (T1), right after (T2), and three months after training (T3) in quiet and various noise conditions. Results indicated that compared with the video watching group, the TIN group improved vowel identification in both quiet and noise significantly more at T2 and at T3. In contrast, the TIQ group improved significantly more in quiet and also in non-speech noise conditions at T2, but the improvement did not hold at T3. Moreover, compared to the TIQ group, the TIN group showed significantly less informational masking at both T2 and T3 and less energetic masking at T3. These results suggest that L2 speech training in background noise may improve non-native vowel perception more effectively than TIQ background only. The implications for non-native speech perception learning are discussed.

中文翻译：

---

训练非母语元音感知：在安静或噪音中

噪声使非母语听众的语音感知比母语听众更具挑战性。非母语语音感知的训练通常在安静的情况下进行。目前尚不清楚背景噪声是否会有益于或阻碍非母语语音感知学习。在这项研究中，将 51 名华裔听众随机分为三组，包括安静元音训练 (TIQ)、噪音元音训练 (TIN) 和观看英语视频作为主动控制。在安静和各种噪音条件下，在训练前 (T1)、紧接着 (T2) 和训练后三个月 (T3) 评估元音识别。结果表明，与视频观看组相比，TIN 组在 T2 和 T3 时显着提高了安静和噪声中的元音识别能力。相比之下，TIQ 组在安静和非语音噪音条件下在 T2 时的改善显着更多，但在 T3 时改善没有持续。此外，与 TIQ 组相比，TIN 组在 T2 和 T3 的信息掩蔽显着减少，在 T3 的能量掩蔽更少。这些结果表明，在背景噪声中进行 L2 语音训练可能比仅在 TIQ 背景下更有效地改善非母语元音感知。讨论了对非母语语音感知学习的影响。这些结果表明，在背景噪声中进行 L2 语音训练可能比仅在 TIQ 背景下更有效地改善非母语元音感知。讨论了对非母语语音感知学习的影响。这些结果表明，在背景噪声中进行 L2 语音训练可能比仅在 TIQ 背景下更有效地改善非母语元音感知。讨论了对非母语语音感知学习的影响。