An investigation of speaker height and weight identification by means of direct estimations

Abstract

The purposes of this investigation were: (1) to determine if listeners were capable of making accurate direct estimations of speakers’ heights and weights from recorded speech samples, and (2) to determine the importance of the sex of the speaker and listener on the speaker height and weight identification tasks. A standard prose passage was recorded by 30 speakers, 15 females and 15 males. A master tape containing the randomly arranged recorded readings of all speakers was played to a group of 40 judges, 20 females and 20 males, for speaker height and weight identification. All subjects participated in two experimental sessions, one for height judgments and one for weight judgments. The judges were asked to estimate the height and weight of each of the speakers on the master tape. Results indicate that listeners are capable of accurately identifying the approximate heights and weights of speakers. Moreover, the sex of the speaker and listener did not significantly affect speaker height and weight identification judgments. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.