Variable delay affects conversational turn-taking behavior in the presence of background noise

Previous studies have observed that the duration and variability of floor-transfer offsets (FTO) increase when communication becomes more difficult, such as in the presence of background noise. Additionally, talkers have been shown to adapt their communication behavior when difficulty is increased only for their conversational partner. This study aims to examine whether changes in the timing of FTOs are utilized as a cue by talkers to determine if their partner(s) are experiencing difficulty in communication. A real-time processing system was implemented to randomly vary the delay in a communication line between two talkers so as to alter the duration and variability of FTOs perceived by both talkers. The findings, based on dyadic conversations taking place in both the presence and absence of background noise, with and without delay, reveal that the manipulation of perceived FTO timing does elicit behavioral changes, but only when background noise is also present. This suggests that, when there is an expectation of difficulty, the timing of FTOs may be used as a cue to infer the difficulty level of a conversational partner.