Listener Attitudes Research Articles

Dialect change and language attitudes in Albania

Abstract This study is concerned with attitudes of Albanian listeners toward the two main dialects spoken in Albania: Gheg and Tosk. The study seeks to establish a connection between attitudes and speech features which have been shown to be changing in Gheg, and other features found to be stable. Ratings of four speech features on visual analog scales (VASs) pertaining to dialect identification, status, and solidarity were collected from 125 Albanian listeners and modeled with Bayesian regressions. The results revealed lower status for variants of features found to be changing in Gheg, contrary to stable variants, suggesting a connection between attitudes and dialect change, and highlighting the relevance of both language-external and internal factors in understanding change. All stimuli were also rated as more friendly than unfriendly, which could be related to sociocultural specificities of Albania. The study finally identifies methodological challenges to do with modeling responses from VASs.

Analisis Handling Complaint Tamu Yang Menginap Di Grand Basko Hotel Padang

This research began with guest complaints regarding the follow-up carried out by staff when complaints were submitted by guests at the Grand Basko Hotel Padang. This research aimed to analyze and describe the handling of guest complaints at the Grand Basko Hotel Padang in terms of the HEAT method. Through this research, researchers has found out the analysis of handling complaints from guests staying at the Grand Basko Hotel Padang. This type of research is descriptive research with qualitative data. The informants in this study consisted of nine people divided into six hotel staff and three guests. Data collection was carried out through interviews, observation and documentation. Then, the data is processed to be reduced, presented and conclusions drawn. The data from this research were tested using source triangulation, method triangulation and time triangulation. The research results show that in handling guest complaints, Grand Basko Hotel Padang staff have applied a listening attitude, empathy, apologies, then implemented actions and follow-up.

Podcasts, Mental Health, and Stigma: Exploring Motivations, Behaviors, and Attitudes Among Listeners

ABSTRACT Podcasts are increasingly utilized in mental health contexts, such as communicating advice around improving wellbeing, guided meditations, psychoeducation, and translating research findings. This study aimed to explore demographics, motivations, behaviors, and attitudes of podcast listeners regarding podcasts dealing with content and themes related to mental health. Adult Australian podcast listeners (N = 629) completed a cross-sectional online survey including the Acquisition Questionnaire (AQ-9), the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS) and the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI-9). Approximately one third had listened to a mental health-themed podcast in the last 12 months. Logistic regression models showed people who listened to a mental health-themed podcast held fewer stigmatizing attitudes toward people experiencing mental health issues on the AQ-9 (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.9–1.0, p < .001), and had higher levels of mental health knowledge on the MAKS (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.0–1.2, p < .01). However, there was no significant relationship with internalized stigma on the ISMI-9 (OR 1.4, 95% CI 0.9–2.3, p = .2). Future research is needed to determine if such podcasts indeed impact listeners’ attitudes and behaviors, and, if they do, how podcasts can be used for effective communication around mental health content.

Educational Information Improves Listener Attitudes Toward People With Dysarthria Secondary to Parkinson's Disease.

People with dysarthria have been rated as less confident and less likable and are often assumed by listeners to have reduced cognitive abilities relative to neurotypical speakers. This study explores whether educational information about dysarthria can shift these attitudes in a group of speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to Parkinson's disease. One hundred seventeen listeners were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to transcribe sentences and rate the confidence, intelligence, and likability of eight speakers with mild hypokinetic dysarthria. Listeners were assigned to one of four conditions. In one condition, listeners were provided with no educational information prior to exposure to speakers with dysarthria (n = 29). In another condition, listeners were given educational statements from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website (n = 29). In a third condition, listeners were given additional information stating that dysarthria does not indicate reduced intelligence or understanding (n = 30). Finally, in a fourth condition, listeners only heard samples from neurotypical, age-matched adults (n = 29). Results revealed statistically significant effects of educational statements on ratings of speakers' confidence, intelligence, and likability. However, educational statements did not affect listeners' transcription accuracy. This study presents preliminary evidence that educational material can positively influence listener impressions of speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria, especially when it is explicitly stated that the disorder does not affect intelligence or understanding. This initial examination provides preliminary support for educational awareness campaigns and self-disclosure of communicative difficulties in people with mild dysarthria.

Listener bias and intelligibility of unfamiliar varieties of a language

Speech intelligibility depends on a combination of the speech itself and of the listener. In terms of speech, unfamiliar varieties (such as foreign-accented speech or speech produced in an unfamiliar dialect) are generally less intelligible than speech produced in a variety that matches that of the listener. In terms of the listener, studies have found that listener experience affects intelligibility of unfamiliar varieties of a language. The current study explores the extent to which a listener’s biases toward globalization and immigration predict speech intelligibility. High and low predictability sentences from three men (US English, Scottish English, Mandarin-accented English) were mixed with background noise. Fifty L1 US English listeners first typed the final word of each sentence and were then asked to answer questions related to their views on globalism and nationalism. As expected, listeners were more accurate in the high compared to low predictability sentences. Surprisingly, the Mandarin-accented speaker was the most intelligible. A follow-up study with duration-normalized samples found the same result. Contrary to expectations, listener responses to the globalist-nationalist survey had no impact on intelligibility. This may suggest that difficulty understanding unfamiliar varieties of a language is not related to listener attitudes.

Grace, Inspiration, Fulfillment, Timeless, Soulful (GIFTS): The Why and How of Podcasts for Recognition and Mentoring of Faculty in Medicine.

This commentary offers the reader an alternative to mentoring through the use of PODCASTS. By providing the listener with an understanding of the challenges and opportunities for self-reflection and sharing of experiences by the interviewees, we are impacting the listener attitudes and future goals through lessons learned.

Podcast production and marketing strategies on the main platforms in Europe, North America, and Latin America. Situation and perspectives

Fifteen years after the term was coined, the podcast is now consolidated as a sound format with a specific identity within the digital media ecosystem. The practice of podcasting is none other than radio, but one encompassing diverse production on both expressive and thematic levels whose properties (mobility, narrative fragmentation, and the integration of multiple devices) and personalized consumption generate a very different listener attitude compared with traditional radio. After an initial period of independent amateurism strongly conditioned by the technologies available, the podcast has achieved significant global popular recognition, as well as an increasingly important professional dimension thanks to the emergence and spread of new distribution platforms (podcast networks) designed to serve as alternatives to the dominant feeds (such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iVoox, and Spotify) that rely on different catalogs and business models. This investigation identifies, describes, and systematically orders the main management and marketing models for podcasts on these platforms on the basis of a comparative analysis of fourteen of them, two in each of the eight countries in Europe, North America, and Latin America where this format is most widespread: Acast (Sweden); Podimo (Denmark); Binge Audio and Majelan (France); Podimo Spain and Podium Podcast (Spain); PodcastOne and Luminary (USA); Convoy Network and Puentes (Mexico); Posta and Parque Podcast (Argentina); and Pia Podcast and Podway (Colombia). The study measures and compares the offerings of each of the studied platforms using different quantitative and qualitative variables (age, territorial reach, content categories, dominant genres, funding, and consumption). The objective is to start to draw up a global map of the main operators in the podcasting industry, and to identify the production trends and marketing strategies of a format with increasing impact and demand, destined to become the future heir of broadcast radio.

A Study of Music Training for Cochlear Implant Users: Mismatch Negativity and Music Listening Attitude and Satisfaction Questionnaire

Purpose: The music rehabilitation program (MRP) promotes auditory, language, cognitive, and motor development of the brain. The significance of MRP was studied through mismatch negativity (MMN) and Music Listening Attitude and Satisfaction Questionnaire for hearing loss (MASQ_H). Methods: Fifteen adult cochlear implant (CI) users (34.5 years; standard deviation, ± 11.6) participated. MMN was tested before and after MRP training at the stimulus intensity level of 70 and 100 dB hearing loss (HL). In addition, MASQ_H was utilized. Results: For the pre- and post-tests of MMN, the average amplitudes of the waveforms were -2.48 ± 1.95 µV and -6.11 ± 4.21 µV and the areas were 208.16 ± 211.59 µV·ms and 527.87 ± 360.42 µV·ms with the significant difference when the stimulus level was presented at 70 dB HL. For MASQ_H, 90.9% of the participants responded that they felt satisfied with listening to music using CI or hearing aid. When asked about the musical factors that were improved in the music listening, the ‘pitch perception’ and ‘timbre perception’ were responded showing increased satisfaction rates. Conclusion: This study confirmed that MRP improved language processing by facilitating auditory processing, cognitive ability, and neural plasticity of the central auditory system through the increased amplitude and area of MMN after MRP application. Furthermore, providing a systematic music training such as MRP could change the music listening attitudes and satisfaction of the CI users’. The active implementation of music rehabilitation is strongly suggested.

Listeners’ attitudes towards voice disorders: An interaction between auditory and visual stimuli

ObjectivePeople with dysphonia are judged more negatively than peers with normal vocal quality. This preliminary study aims to (1) investigate correlations between both auditory-perceptual and objective measures of vocal quality of dysphonic and non-dysphonic speakers and attitudes of listeners, and (2) discover whether these attitudes towards people with dysphonia vary for different types of stimuli: auditory (A) stimuli and combined auditory-visual (AV) stimuli. Visual (V) stimuli were included as a control condition. MethodTen judges with no experience in the evaluation of dysphonia were asked to rate A, AV and V stimuli of 14 different speakers (10 dysphonic and 4 non-dysphonic speakers) Cognitive attitudes, evaluation of voice characteristics and behavioral attitudes were examined. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to examine correlations between both Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) values and perceptual vocal quality as assessed by a speech-language pathologist (PVQSLP) or perceptual vocal quality as assessed by the judges (PVQjudge). Linear mixed model (LMM) analyses were conducted to investigate differences between speakers and stimuli conditions. ResultsStatistically significant correlations were found between both perceptual and objective measures of vocal quality and mean attitude scores for A and AV stimuli, indicating increasingly negative attitudes with increasing dysphonia severity. Fewer statistically significant correlations were found for the combined AV stimuli than for A stimuli, and no significant correlations were found for V stimuli. LMM analyses revealed significant group effects for several cognitive attitudes. ConclusionGenerally, people with dysphonia are judged more negatively by listeners than peers without dysphonia. However, the findings of this study suggest a positive influence of visual cues on the judges’ cognitive and behavioral attitudes towards dysphonic speakers. Further research is needed to investigate the significance of this influence.

An Analysis of EFL Students’ Difficulties in Listening Comprehension at STKIP Muhammadiyah Bogor

The purpose of this study is to find out the difficulties or problems and the factor encounter by students in listening comprehension aimed to prepare teacher to help Student difficulties and solve the problems during teaching. This research used qualitative descriptive method. The procedure data employ the questionnaire in collecting data. 61 EFL Students of STKIP Muhammadiyah Bogor as participants. Ther resultd revealed that there were some factors affected to EFL learner in listening comprehension such as listening material, listener attitude and background knowledge, speaker and physical setting, but the most difficulites faced students in this case were lengt speech its about 60%, and unfamiliar words its about 80% in listening material variable. Meanwhile, for the listener attitude and background knowledge at the least there were two items the most difficulties faced such as catching linking word its about 54% and catching proper word its about 44%. The last and the most significant difficulties faced was the speaker and physical setting such as in unclear recorder resulting from poor CD or casset its is about 93%, and poor of recording quality and poor of equipment both of them approximate 90%.

Attitudes Toward and Perceived Communicative Competence of Individuals with Aphasia Using Speech-Generating Devices

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of interface display and respondent group on listener attitudes toward and perceived communicative competence of persons with aphasia. The Attitudes Toward Nonspeaking Persons scale and the Communicative Competence Scale was used to measure listener attitudes and communicative competence, respectively. A 2 × 3 mixed factorial design was used. Interface display videos served as the within-subjects variable (i.e., grid and scene displays), and the respondent group served as the between-subjects variable. A total of 113 respondents (i.e., undergraduate lower-division students, undergraduate upper-division students, and family caregivers of individuals with aphasia) watched an individual with aphasia using a grid display in one video and a scene display in another video. The respondents completed the two scales. Significant main effects (p < .05) were found for interface display and respondent group. The use of scene displays had a more favorable impact on competence ratings than the use of grid displays. Family caregiver ratings were significantly (p < .05) more favorable than ratings from other groups. The Communicative Competence Scale was found to be a reliable measure of perceived communicative competence. Scene displays have the potential to enhance the perceived communicative competence of this population.

Editorial:Narrative‐BasedApproaches in Psychological Research and Practice

Editorial:<scp>Narrative‐Based</scp>Approaches in Psychological Research and Practice

Manipulating listener attitudes toward accented talkers influences speech perception

We previously demonstrated that listeners' attitudes toward talkers with foreign accents is related to listeners' ability to perceive foreign-accented speech. In this study, we sought to determine if listeners' attitudes toward talkers with foreign accents are malleable and, if so, whether changing listeners' attitudes toward talkers with foreign accents would change the strength of the relationship between listeners' attitudes and listeners' speech perception accuracy. Specifically, we hypothesized that supporting listeners’ biases regarding non-native speech would lead to better speech perception performance. To test this hypothesis, we created short vignettes that either conformed to or violated listeners’ biases regarding non-native talkers. Native English-speaking listeners rated and transcribed speech produced by native and non-native English speakers. Half of the listeners read the vignette prior to rating the speech, half received no information about the talkers; vignettes were randomly paired with talkers. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no effect of vignette type. Listeners rated non-native listeners as more accented and less likeable when vignettes were present. Interestingly, listeners were also more accurate transcribing speech by both native and non-native talkers when the vignettes were present.

Evaluating the Effect of Listeners' Response on Speakers' Later Recollection and Impression of the Story

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate a listener's role in a speaker's later recollection and impression of the story through a story‐retelling method. Two experiments were conducted, and listener responses were manipulated in each experiment in different ways. Experiment 1 examined the effect of a listener's attitude toward story retelling, and Experiment 2 studied the effect of a listener's subtle nonverbal reaction to a specific part of the story's retelling on a speaker's later recollection and impression of that story. Results showed that the listener's verbal empathetic attitude encouraged more word utterances from the speaker, changed the narrative content more positively, and reinforced the speaker's recollection, especially with positive ideas. It also amplified the speaker's emotions more than the non‐empathetic attitude (Experiment 1). However, the listener's nonverbal reaction to the specific part of the speaker's story did not appear to have a direct effect upon later recollection nor on the impression of the story (Experiment 2).

مروری بر آزمون های ارزیابی نگرش افراد غیر لکنتی

Purpose: Stuttering is a multidimensional disorder, in which, should be paid attention to speech-related attitudinal reactions alongside speech disfluency. These perceived negative attitudes from the environment play an important role in the formation and persistence of speech disorders, which cause problems in generalizing and stabilizing the treatment of people with stuttering. Therefore, public awareness of these attitudes towards stuttering and trying to change the communication environment greatly help to reduce the severity of stuttering and improve affected people's quality of life. The purpose of this study is to primarily introduce the tests for assessment of the attitude towards stuttering in non-stuttering people. Methods: For complete access to the tools reviewing the non-stuttering people's attitude towards in non-stuttering people, Google, SID, Iranmedex, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, and related theses were searched. Results: Twelve tests were found on assessment of the non-stuttering individual's attitude towards stuttering. These tests were related to assessing the attitudes of parents, teachers, peers and therapists. Significant points from these tests were also explained. Conclusion: According to the results of the present article, the listener's attitude can have a great impact on the perception of the stuttering person, the formation of negative attitudes and the factors in the persistence or increase of stuttering intensity. Therefore, increasing public awareness and changing attitudes, and especially greater attention paid by therapists to these issues in the treatment process, need more attention.

Regional perceptions of the 'ejque'

This paper explores the language attitudes of listeners from six different regions of Spain, Asturias, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, towards a nonsibilant variant of coda /s/, the velarized /s/. This velar pronunciation, known by some as the ejque madrileño, has previously been found to index a Madrid identity for Madrileño listeners, though the traits ascribed such a speaker are quite negative. The current paper finds that like Madrileños themselves, participants from Asturias and Castile and León also associate velarized /s/ with Madrid. Participants from Castile-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands do not consider the velarized variant to be Madrileño. Furthermore, differing judgments of the nonsibilant /s/ are found among the regions tested, with participants from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands showing the most negative judgments while participants from Castile-La Mancha show no negative variable effect in their judgments. It is found that all of these out-group listeners do not show as severe of judgments as those seen by in-group members (Madrilenos themselves) in previous literature.

The Social Meaning of Contextualized Sibilant Alternations in Berlin German.

In Berlin, the pronunciation of /ç/ as [ɕ] is associated with the multi-ethnic youth variety (Kiezdeutsch). This alternation is also known to be produced by French learners of German. While listeners form socio-cultural interpretations upon hearing language input, the associations differ depending on the listeners’ biases and stereotypes toward speakers or groups. Here, the contrast of interest concerns two speaker groups using the [ç]–[ɕ] alternation: multi-ethnic adolescents from Berlin neighborhoods carrying low social prestige in mainstream German society and French learners of German supposedly having higher cultural prestige. To understand the strength of associations between phonetic alternations and social attributes, we ran an Implicit Association Task with 131 participants (three groups varying in age and ethnic background (mono- vs. multi-ethnic German) using auditory and written stimuli. In experiment 1, participants categorized written words as having a positive (good) or negative (bad) valence and auditory stimuli containing pronunciation variations of /ç/ as canonical [ç] (labeled Hochdeutsch [a term used in Germany for Standard German]) or non-canonical [ɕ] (labeled Kiezdeutsch). In experiment 2, identical auditory stimuli were used but the label Kiezdeutsch was changed to French Accent. Results show faster reaction times when negative categories and non-canonical pronunciations or positive categories and canonical pronunciations were mapped to the same response key, indicating a tight association between value judgments and concept categories. Older German listeners (OMO) match a supposed Kiezdeutsch accent more readily with negatively connotated words compared to a supposed French accent, while younger German listeners (YMO) seem to be indifferent toward this variation. Young multi-ethnic listeners (YMU), however, seem to associate negative concepts more strongly with a supposed French accent compared to Kiezdeutsch. These results demonstrate how social and cultural contextualization influences language interpretation and evaluation. We interpret our findings as a loss of cultural prestige of French speakers for the YMO group compared to the OMO group: younger urban listeners do not react differently to these contextual primes. YMU listeners, however, show a positive bias toward their in-group. Our results point to implicit listener attitudes, beliefs, stereotypes and shared world knowledge as significant factors in culturally- and socially situated language processing.

In Search of a Cure for Melancholia: The Attitude of a Listener in the Short Story “Wśród lasu" [Among the Forest] by Adam Asnyk

&lt;p&gt;In my article I interpret the short story “Among the Forest” by Adam Asnyk. I discuss the issue of the relationship between auditory perception and melancholic experiences. To this end, while analyzing the text, I refer to concepts regarding the nature of melancholia and adopt the methodological apparatus of sound studies. As it turns out, the listener's attitude is crucial for overcoming melancholia. According to the poet, attentive listening to the surroundings and the words of other people allows to reach the meaning of life inscribed in nature and as a consequence may help find a cure for melancholia.&lt;/p&gt;

Language Attitudes and Ethnic Identity: Examining Listener Perceptions of Latvian-Russian Bilingual Speakers

ABSTRACTThis study explored the attitudes of ethnic Latvian listeners towards Latvian–Russian bilinguals. Fifty-seven ethnic Latvians completed an identity questionnaire to obtain estimates of their ethnic beliefs and rated the speech of eight Latvian–Russian bilinguals for personal traits, judged how well social and ethnic labels apply to bilinguals, and expressed behavioral choices based on their experience with bilinguals’ speech. Listeners generally categorized speakers in linguistic terms, rather than by ethnicity, downgrading only ethnic Russians speaking low-level Latvian in ratings of honesty (solidarity) and education (status), but upgrading the same speakers in terms of listener preference for these speakers as potential entrepreneurs. Listeners’ own identity beliefs were moderately associated with their ratings, but only for the evaluations of ethnic Russians speaking Russian. These findings provide insights into Latvian–Russian bilingualism, implicating several processes underlying language attitudes, stemming from the current ethnolinguistic context of Latvia and also potentially from listeners’ difficulty processing low-proficiency speakers.

Trends in Accentedness and Comprehensibility Research, with Respect of L2 Speech Ratings

Accentedness and comprehensibility research has greatly evolved since its infancy in in the 1980s. As language learner trends have shifted from native-like mastery to being comprehensible to listeners, a broader range of factors, such as speaker rates, and lexical/grammatical measures have since been evaluated for research and pedagogical purposes. This paper attempts the break down the major methodological procedures used in accentedness and comprehensibility research, chiefly, by examining the types of speakers and listeners that are most commonly present in studies, the types of stimuli and rating methods, the various features of accentedness and comprehensibility and listener attitudes, to name a few. Finally, this review briefly highlights what new components should be added in order to further our understanding in this field, both for academic interest and practical pedagogical purposes.