Does sentence/phrase-end pitch raising among young female speakers affect listeners' perception of professionalism?

Abstract

The present study investigated whether sentence/phrase-end pitch-raising among young female speakers affects listeners' perception of professionalism. Sentence/ phrase-end F0 in speech samples of ten young female speakers was digitally altered to make two types of stimuli: one with rising pitch and the other with falling pitch. Listeners rated the two types of stimuli for impression of professionalism. Data were first submitted to factor analysis, and three-way ANOVA with stimulus type, age group and gender of listeners as factors was performed on the factor scores of "professionalism." The results indicated that stimuli with falling pitch at the end of sentences/phrases were perceived as more professional and trustworthy.