This study investigates the effect of pause lengthening in Easy Language audios - a feature typically recommended to improve comprehension - on participants' understanding, acceptability, and preferences. The participants of this study included 35 neurotypical Catalan native speakers (control group), 34 Catalan native speakers with intellectual disabilities (ID), and 31 second-language learners of Catalan (L2). Participants completed a comprehension test with audio featuring four inter-sentence pauses (590 ms, 740 ms, 890 ms, 1040 ms) and four intra-sentence pauses (250 ms, 400 ms, 550 ms, 700 ms). They also rated pause acceptability and indicated preferences. Results showed no significant improvement in comprehension with longer pauses in the ID or control groups, whereas L2 learners showed a non-significant trend toward improvement. Longer inter-sentence pauses were generally acceptable across groups, whereas longer intra-sentence pauses were less favored by the control group. Preferences for pause durations were unclear for the ID and L2 groups.
Farreras et al. (Thu,) studied this question.