Listener experience and perception of voice quality

Abstract

This study examines the role of listener experience with populations of voices in the perception of vocal quality. Prototype models suggest that the strategy that naive listeners use to evaluate abnormal vocal qualities will differ significantly from that of listeners experienced with dysphonic populations. Listener groups should not differ in perceptual strategy for normal voices, where their experience is equal. The nature of differences in strategy is also examined: as listeners gain experience with populations of voices, do they hear them in more complicated ways, resulting in higher dimensional multidimensional scaling solutions and/or lower r2 values for these solutions? Alternatively, does experience increase the efficiency with which listeners utilize a relatively constant set of perceptual parameters? Six naive and six experienced listeners judged the similarity of 17 dysphonic and 17 normal voices. Separate MDS solutions were found for each listener group for each voice set, and regressions compared the solutions. The relative complexity and efficiency of individual perceptual strategies are also discussed.