The cognitive effects of speech noise on reader's comprehension: a focus on second language learners

This study was aimed at measuring the cognitive effects of speech noise on second language learners' reading comprehension. The sample consisted of foreign language university students. We used a within subject design to assess their comprehension under a quiet condition, and a noisy condition where the participants were exposed to task-irrelevant background speech. Under the two noise conditions, participants were required to read two texts through the eye tracking device TOBII and respond to comprehension questions. Based on the literature, we expect the background speech in the noisy condition to impair comprehension in the participants. Consequently, we predict that performance would be better in the quiet condition.