masraum |
07-01-2025 05:09 PM |
Another thing that makes this extra tricky is that sound and voice perception is actually VERY subjective (even when comparing folks with no hearing loss).
I assume some (most) of it is intrinsic and may be somewhat learned as well. Have you ever met someone that's moved from another country 4-5 years ago and they speak English with a very mild accent if any? Have you ever met another person that's been in the US for 20, 30, 40 years and they still have a very thick accent? I believe a lot of that is due to some folks having a better "ear" than others. The folks with the better ear hear the slight differences in the ways that people say things and then end up mimicking better.
A similar thing would be having 2 folks listening to the same person that speaks English with an accent (whether it's regional like southern, Boston, NY, NJ, etc... or some foreign accent). In extreme cases one person may completely understand everything the person says while the other person may only pick up 1 word it 10 (my wife and I for example).
I know that I've read that people are better at picking a familiar voice out of high noise levels than unfamiliar voices. So you'll be able to pick out a friend's voice in a noisy environment better than a strangers voice.
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