The effect of regional accent on voice recognition

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Description/Abstract

The current paper examines an ‘other-accent’ effect when recognising voices. English and Scottish listeners were tested with English and Scottish voices using a sequential lineup method. The results suggested greater accuracy for own-accent voices than for other-accent voices under both target-present and target-absent conditions. Moreover, self-rated confidence in response to target-absent lineups suggested greater confidence for own-accent voices than other-accent voices. As predicted, the other-accent effect noted here emerged more strongly for English listeners than for Scottish listeners, and these results are discussed within an expertise framework alongside both other-race effects in face recognition, and other-accent effects in word recognition. Given these results, caution is advised in the treatment of earwitness evidence when recognising a voice of another accent.