Mutual Intelligibility

Mutual intelligibility, the ability of speakers of different languages to understand each other, is a complex phenomenon currently investigated through both psycholinguistic experiments and computational modeling. Research focuses on disentangling the contributions of phonetic features (like sounds) and prosodic features (like intonation) to comprehension, often employing machine learning models such as LSTMs with attention mechanisms to analyze speech signals and predict intelligibility levels. These studies are significant for advancing our understanding of language processing and have practical applications in areas like speech technology, language assessment, and the development of assistive technologies for individuals with speech impairments.