interspeaker

Interspeaker is a term used primarily in linguistics and speech science to denote phenomena, measurements, or analyses that pertain to differences between speakers. The form inter-speaker or interspeaker is often used interchangeably with the more explicit phrases inter-speaker variation or cross-speaker differences. The term is descriptive rather than representing a formal theory, and its exact usage can vary by discipline.

Interspeaker variation encompasses differences in pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, pitch, tempo, vocabulary, and other acoustic-phonetic features across individuals. These differences arise from a range of factors, including dialect or accent, age, gender, socio-economic background, education, and idiolect. Inter-speaker variation has implications for speech perception, intelligibility, language testing, and language learning, as listeners and learners must cope with diverse speech patterns. In speech technology, inter-speaker differences pose challenges for automatic speech recognition and synthesis, prompting the use of speaker normalization, adaptation, and features designed to be robust to speaker variation.

Researchers commonly contrast interspeaker variation with intra-speaker variation, which concerns changes within the same speaker over time or across contexts. Methodologically, interspeaker factors are often treated as random effects in statistical models or controlled through experimental design to ensure generalizability across speakers. When documenting findings, authors may employ phrases such as inter-speaker variation, cross-speaker differences, or between-speaker differences to convey the same general idea.