The Effect of Experience on Response Time When Judging Synthesized Voice Quality

Objectives/hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of level and type of experience on response time and the number of replays needed when judging voice quality. Study design. This was a within-subjects group design. Methods. Speech-language pathologists, singing voice teachers, speech-language pathology graduate students with and without experience with a voice client, graduate students who have completed a voice pedagogy course, and inexperienced listeners (n = 60) rated stimuli with systematically altered measurements of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) on a visual analog scale ranging from mild to severe for overall severity, roughness, breathiness, strain, and pitch. Response time (in seconds) and number of replays were recorded during the experiment. Results. Results showed that experienced listeners took the most time when rating the stimuli. Stimuli with two altered acoustical components also yielded longer response times compared with the stimuli with one altered acoustical component. Finally, level and type of experience had some effect on the number of replays for each stimulus during the rating task. Conclusions. In conclusion, experience does affect response time when judging voice quality and the number of replays during voice quality rating tasks. Continued research is needed regarding the reasons for extended time and replays as per experience so as to enhance future training protocols.