The More Unclear the Hearing, the Faster the Feeling: Speech Comprehension Changes Subjective Speech Rate

Abstract

Imagine being in a foreign country, surrounded by locals speaking a language entirely alien to you. Does their conversation seem to race like a machine gun? The perception of speech rate, as a facet of time perception, greatly impacts our daily lives. However, the factors influencing this perception remain poorly understood. Through a series of three experiments (with sample sizes of 31, 27, and 25 respectively), we discovered that speech comprehension significantly alters listeners perception of speech rate. As comprehensibility diminishes, listeners tend to overestimate the speech rate. Intriguingly, this effect is further influenced by the listeners language proficiency. Specifically, the better the listeners language proficiency, the more likely their perception of speech rate is influenced by the speech comprehension. Our study corroborates the notion that biases in time perception may be prevalent in our everyday communication. These subjective experiences could prompt listeners to modify their behavior or processing strategies.