White Noise and Bilingual Narrative Comprehension
Amandalee Roman
Co-Presenters: Carolina Lajara, Kristen Onorati
College: The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major: Speech-Language Pathology (M.A.)
Faculty Research Mentor: Iyad Ghanim
Abstract:
This project examines the effect of white noise on performance in auditory narrative comprehension tasks in comparison to conditions without white noise in English-Spanish bilinguals.This project is borne out of the mixed response that individuals have to white noise. Angwin et. al. (2019) found that it helps with concentration during task completion, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that white noise may be a distraction. Furthermore, there is limited research on bilingualism and language processing. To test this, we examined the effect of white noise on narrative language comprehension, specifically as it relates to bilingualism.English-dominant English-Spanish bilingual and English monolingual participants aged between 18 to 34 years old were included in the study. Participants listened to 5 stories which included one practice story, two stories presented with white noise, and two stories without white noise from the English Oral Passage Understanding Scale (Horan et al., 2010). Participants answered comprehension questions that followed both conditions. The experiment was completed remotely through Qualtrics and demographic information was collected through the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Marian et al., 2007).Data collection is still ongoing and projected to be completed in March 2025. Consistent with previous research, early data suggests bilinguals take longer to complete the task, but do not demonstrate a greater effect of white noise compared to monolinguals. These findings will provide insight into multilingual populations, promoting inclusive, equitable, and quality education.