Judgments of Intelligence and Likability of Young Adult Female Speakers of American English: The Influence of Vocal Fry and the Surrounding Acoustic-Prosodic Context.

OBJECTIVE: Vocal fry is a prevalent speech feature in college-aged American women living in the United States. However, there is currently little consensus about how its use influences listener judgments of the speaker. This study investigated how vocal fry influences judgments of intelligence and the likability of young adult female speakers of American English while taking into account the surrounding acoustic-prosodic context, specifically voice pitch and speech rate.

METHOD: Speech samples were obtained from eight American English-speaking females who presented with different combinations of voice pitch (low or high), speech rate (slow or fast), and vocal fry (presence or absence). Listener judgments of ratings of intelligence and likability were collected from 463 adults via online crowdsourcing.

RESULTS: Generalized estimating equation models revealed significant three-way interactions between the voice pitch, speech rate, and vocal fry for listener judgments of intelligence and likability. While vocal fry had favorable effects in some contexts (eg, high pitch, fast rate) it had unfavorable effects in others (eg, low pitch, fast rate).

CONCLUSION: Listener judgments of young American women based on information afforded in their speech are not solely based on the presence or absence of vocal fry, but rather a combination of features that interact with one another in unique ways. Thus, whether or not the use of vocal fry in this population projects a favorable impression depends on the acoustic-prosodic context in which it is produced.