title: The effect of experience on perceptual spaces when judging synthesized voice quality: a multidimensional scaling study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of experience on the perceptual space of listeners when judging voice quality.
  
  
  METHODS
  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 served as listeners. Each participant rated the similarity of pairs of synthesized stimuli with systematically altered measurements of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio on a visual analog scale ranging from no similarity to extremely similar.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that participants with different levels and types of experience used different perceptual spaces (of additive noise and perturbation measures) when judging the similarity of stimulus pairs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The conclusion was that perceptual spaces differ among individuals with different levels and types of experience when judging the similarity of pairs of stimuli with systematically altered acoustical measurements.
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, The College of St. Rose, Albany, New York. Electronic address: kisenwej@strose.edu.
authors.forename: Jessica Sofranko
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kisenwether
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Prosek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011361:Professional Competence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D063346:Singing / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: Acoustical measures; Experienced listener; Multidimensional scaling; Synthesized stimuli; Voice perception