Interspeaker variation in habitual speaking rate: additional evidence.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that talkers previously classified by Y.-C. Tsao and G. Weismer (1997) as habitually fast versus habitually slow would show differences in the way they manipulated articulation rate across the rate continuum.


METHODS
Thirty talkers previously classified by Tsao and Weismer (1997) as having habitually slow (n = 15; 7 males, 8 females) and habitually fast (n = 15; 8 males, 7 females) articulation rates produced a single sentence at 7 different rates, using a magnitude production paradigm. Hence, the participants were not randomly assigned to conditions.


RESULTS
Quadratic regression functions relating measured to intended articulation rates were all statistically significant, and most important, there were significant differences between the slow and fast groups in the y intercepts of the functions, for both males and females.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides a constructive replication of Tsao and Weismer (1997), showing a difference between slow and fast talkers with a new set of speech materials and in a new task. The findings appear to be consistent with a biological basis for intertalker rate differences.
Tsao
Ying-Chiao
YC
Human Communication Studies/Communicative Disorders, 800 N. State College Boulevard, P.O. Box 6868, California State University-Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, USA. ytsao@fullerton.edu
Weismer
Gary
G
Iqbal
Kamran
K
D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013997:Time Factors