Compressed speech: correlates of listening ability.

Abstract

To identify sources of individual differences in the ability to comprehend compressed speech, a battery of tests was administered to 52 college students. The criterion variable was performance on four multiple choice tests based on the content of four recorded history passages. Subjects listened to these passages at a normal rate of approximately 175 wpm, and at three compressed rates: 250, 325, and 450 wpm. Compressed versions were prepared using the Tempo-Regulator. Certain ancillary data on intelligibility and comprehension were separately obtained from the same subjects by means of a sentence perception task. The results of a multiple regression analysis of test score data indicated that the best predictor of comprehension at high rates of compression was the Best Trend Name Test, originally developed as a measure of the ability to evaluate semantic relations -one of the components in the Guilford structure-of-intellect model of abilities. The outcome of a factor analysis of the test data supported an interpretation that the ability to rapidly match or compare concepts on the basis of semantic relatedness was a determinant of performance on the Best Trend Name Test. In an attempt to account for the significance of this ability in the comprehension of compressed speech, Guilford's concept was juxtaposed with the test or comparison operation postulated to be one stage in the “analysis-by-synthesis” model of speech perception.