Do British Accents Become Unintelligible to Americans As They Get Older?
First-of-its-kind analysis was inspired by older Americans at hearing clinics who complained about no longer being able to understand their favorite TV shows.
Amanda Holpuch | May 26, 2016
The first-of-its-kind analysis was inspired by older Americans complaining at hearing clinics about no longer being able to understand their favorite television shows, such as Keeping Up Appearances and PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre, which presents British series.
The study’s senior author, Sarah Hargus Ferguson, a University of Utah associate professor of communication sciences and disorders, said researchers wanted to test whether it was an actual problem that patients would come in and say: “I really used to enjoy Masterpiece Theater and now I can’t”.
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| Does Downton Abbey become more difficult to understand as the American listener ages? Source: http://schedule.wttw.com/series/15759/Masterpiece-Classic/ |
<more at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/26/americans-understanding-british-english-accents-tv-study; related articles and links: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/may/26/cheryl-cole-fox-accent-risk (Cheryl Cole's accent is not worth the risk for X Factor, Fox decides. Geordie singer ousted from US talent show because executives judged that viewers could not understand her. May 26, 2011) and http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2016/05/Accents-elderly.php (Brit Accents Vex U.S. Hearing-Impaired Elderly. May 25, 2016)>
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