An investigation of speaker height and weight identification: II. Direct estimations

Abstract

Results of a previous investigation [N.J. Lass and M. Davies, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 60, 700–703 (1976)], in which subjects were given a multiple-choice response task for their judgments, indicated that listeners were capable of identifying the heights of male and female speakers and the weights of male speakers at better than chance levels. The purposes of the present investigation were: (1) to determine if listeners were also capable of making accurate direct estimations of speakers' heights and weights from recorded speech samples (without the benefit of available multiple choices), and (2) to determine the importance of the sex of the speaker and listener on 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. All subjects participated in two experimental sessions. In one session they were asked to determine the height of each speaker and in another session weight judgments were made. The order of presentation of the two experimental tasks was randomized so that 20 subjects made height judgments first and 20 made weight judgments first. Results indicate that listeners are capable of accurately identifying the approximate heights and weights of speakers by means of direct estimations. 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.