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I Can’t Hear What I’m Reading: An Eye Tracking Study on Reading in Different Noise Environments

Pallasch, Nina LU (2023) PSYP01 20231
Department of Psychology
Abstract
This study investigates how different acoustic environments and spelling manipulations affect the reading process by applying eye tracking methodology. Participants are asked to read sentences while either listening to babble noise or not being exposed to any acoustic stimuli. It was generally possible to understand semantic chunks of the babble noise but not the discourse. The reading material was manipulated by including misspelled words that either do or do not resemble the original word’s phonology. A screen-based eye tracking system was used to measure participants first fixation duration, total fixation duration and number of fixations. Using a linear mixed effects model to analyze the effects of the different spelling and acoustic... (More)
This study investigates how different acoustic environments and spelling manipulations affect the reading process by applying eye tracking methodology. Participants are asked to read sentences while either listening to babble noise or not being exposed to any acoustic stimuli. It was generally possible to understand semantic chunks of the babble noise but not the discourse. The reading material was manipulated by including misspelled words that either do or do not resemble the original word’s phonology. A screen-based eye tracking system was used to measure participants first fixation duration, total fixation duration and number of fixations. Using a linear mixed effects model to analyze the effects of the different spelling and acoustic conditions as well as their interactions. The different spelling conditions showed first evidence for the pseudohomophone advantage effect in the Swedish language applying to total fixation duration and number of fixations. Noise distraction did not show significant effects. Regarding working memory, this implies that babble noise does not affect the capacity for the processing of written text which further suggests that processing discourse is more relevant in causing distraction effects than processing semantics. Further theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Pallasch, Nina LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Reading Process, Auditory Noise, Pseudohomophone Advantage, Eye Tracking
language
English
id
9135189
date added to LUP
2023-09-06 15:42:28
date last changed
2023-09-14 15:01:35
@misc{9135189,
  abstract     = {{This study investigates how different acoustic environments and spelling manipulations affect the reading process by applying eye tracking methodology. Participants are asked to read sentences while either listening to babble noise or not being exposed to any acoustic stimuli. It was generally possible to understand semantic chunks of the babble noise but not the discourse. The reading material was manipulated by including misspelled words that either do or do not resemble the original word’s phonology. A screen-based eye tracking system was used to measure participants first fixation duration, total fixation duration and number of fixations. Using a linear mixed effects model to analyze the effects of the different spelling and acoustic conditions as well as their interactions. The different spelling conditions showed first evidence for the pseudohomophone advantage effect in the Swedish language applying to total fixation duration and number of fixations. Noise distraction did not show significant effects. Regarding working memory, this implies that babble noise does not affect the capacity for the processing of written text which further suggests that processing discourse is more relevant in causing distraction effects than processing semantics. Further theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Pallasch, Nina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{I Can’t Hear What I’m Reading: An Eye Tracking Study on Reading in Different Noise Environments}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}