Previous studies show that linguistic information and talker information interact during processing. Familiarity with a language facilitates talker processing, and familiarity with a talker's voice facilitates linguistic processing. To probe the factors involved in talker processing, researchers examined how individual differences in reading skills interact with talker information and found that individuals with poorer phonological processing also have poorer talker processing skills. However, these studies did not control for task demands. In addition, it is unclear how individual differences in reading and language ability, and talker variability, influence word learning. In this dissertation, I examine how talker and linguistic properties interact during processing with the goal of understanding how individuals with poor reading and language skills process talker information, how they use this type of information in word learning, and how we can improve word learning by manipulating talker variability. Using experiments that carefully controlled for lexical information, phonological information, task, and talker variability, I compared performance of individuals with a range of reading and language abilities. Together, the findings in this dissertation highlight the important role of talker processing in speech processing and how individual differences in reading and language ability impact word learning. Following these findings, I present some clinical implications we can draw from these experiments, and future directions in the area on talker processing and reading. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]