The Impact of Foreign Language Accent on Expert Listeners' Auditory‐Perceptual Evaluations of Dysphonia

Abstract

IntroductionAuditory‐perceptual evaluations of dysphonia, though essential for comprehensive voice evaluation, are subject to listener bias. Knowledge of an underlying voice disorder can influence auditory‐perceptual ratings. Accented speech results in increased listener effort and delays in word identification. Yet, little is known about the impact of foreign language accents on auditory‐perceptual ratings for dysphonic speakers. The purpose of this work was to determine the impact of a foreign language accent on experts' auditory‐perceptual ratings of dysphonic speakers.MethodsTwelve voice‐specializing SLPs who spoke with a General American English (GAE) accent rated vocal percepts of 28 speakers with a foreign language accent and 28 with a GAE accent, all of whom had been diagnosed with a voice disorder. Speaker groups were matched based on sex, age, and mean smoothed cepstral peak prominence. Four linear mixed‐effects models assessed the impact of a foreign language accent on expert auditory‐perceptual ratings of the overall severity of dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, and strain.ResultsThe twelve raters demonstrated good inter‐ and intra‐rater reliability (ICC[3, k] = .89; mean ICC = .89). The linear mixed‐effects models revealed no significant impact of foreign language accent on ratings of overall severity of dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, or strain.ConclusionDespite the possibility of increased listener effort and bias, foreign language accent incongruence had no effect on expert listeners' auditory‐perceptual evaluations for dysphonic speakers. Findings support the use of auditory‐perceptual evaluations for voice disorders across sociolinguistically diverse populations.Level of Evidence3 Laryngoscope, 2023