01752caa a2200205 4500 210629s9999 xx 000 0 und d 2169-5725 Nayana, M Effect of number of talkers and language of babble on acceptable noise level in Kannada listeners Informa UK Limited 2018 241-247 Volume 16 Issue 4 Objective: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of number of talkers (2-talker, 4-talker, 8-talker, 10-talker and 12-talker) in native (Kannada) and non-native (English) speech babble on acceptable noise level (ANL) in individuals with normal hearing; and to compare ANL obtained in the presence of Kannada speech babble with that of English speech babble across different number of talker babbles.Study sample: Thirty participants between in the age range of 18-24 years with normal hearing sensitivity participated in the study. ANL was obtained in the presence of different number of talkers in English and Kannada languages.Results: The results revealed that Kannada talker babble had lower ANL for 8-talker babble whereas in English, 2-talker babble had the lowest ANL. The results also showed that ANL was lower when Kannada babble was used when compared to English babble. The reason for this result could be due to familiarity with the languages and the similarity between the two languages of interest. Acceptable noise level, Kannada speech babble, English speech babble, normal hearing individuals Chinnaraj Geetha Keerthi Sringari Parmeshwara Hearing, Balance and Communication https://doi.org/10.1080/21695717.2018.1542858 FJAS FJAS 17793 17793