Effects of Noise on English Listening Comprehension among Chinese College Students

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2017.01.003

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents a study on the effects of different types of noise on English listening comprehension among Chinese college students. A total of 96 sophomores listened to English conversations presented in quiet and in white noise, Chinese 2-talker babble, and English 2-talker babble at a fixed SNR respectively. The results showed that Chinese students' performance in listening comprehension tasks varied according to the types of noise. Specifically, they had significantly lower scores in all types of noise than their scores in quiet. They performed similarly in Chinese 2-talker babble and English 2-talker babble, and were significantly better in white noise. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between their performance in quiet and that in noise, which varied with the types of noise. In addition, compared with students with lower scores in quiet, students with higher scores suffered a larger performance deficit due to the energetic and informational masking effects of noise.

CLC Number:

H319

YANG Xiaohu, ZHAO Yong, XU Lilong, TANG Wenting, ZHU Xinyu, BAO Andi, ZHAO Zongwan. Effects of Noise on English Listening Comprehension among Chinese College Students[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2017, 17(01): 12-17.

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