Language Familiarity in Magnitude-Estimation Scaling of Loudness by Young Adults

Abstract

The purpose was to examine the effect of language familiarity on magnitude-estimation scaling of loudness by young adults. Two groups of subjects participated in this study. Group 1 of 20 subjects (M age = 23.95 yr.) were familiar with English and not familiar with Hindi. Group 2 of 20 subjects (M age = 24.30 yr.) were familiar with English as well as Hindi. Two separate magnitude-estimation scaling tasks were performed. On the first scaling task, an English sentence was used as the stimulus, and on the second scaling task, a Hindi sentence was used as the stimulus. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in loudness judgments of the English and Hindi sentences. Subjects scaled the loudness of an unfamiliar language in the same manner as they scaled the loudness of a familiar language. The findings suggest that magnitude-estimation scaling is an effective measure of loudness whether the language being listened to is familiar to the listener.

Measurement of Speech Disfluency through Magnitude Estimation and Interval Scaling

“…The results of the magnitude-estimation scaling are consistent with previous research in that its accuracy was demonstrated when rating complex auditory stimuli such as speech and language (Fucci, et al, 1995;Fucci, McColl, Bond, & Stockmal, 1997). Magnitude-estimation scaling has, time after time, been shown to be a reliable means of measurement of the relative presence or absence of many dimensions of psychophysical stimuli.…”

“…Magnitude estimation has been effective in scaling a wide range of auditory stimuli, such as loudness of pure tones, narrow band noise, babble speech, and rock music (Fucci, Petrosino, McColl, Wyatt, & Wilcox, 1997;McColl & Fucci, 1999). Magnitude estimation has also been successfully applied in scaling complex auditory stimuli such as speech and language (Fucci, Bettagere, Gonzales, Reynolds, & Petrosino, 1995;Fucci, McColl, Bond, & Stockmal, 1997). Magnitude-estimation scaling appears to have utility in measuring or rating the severity of pathological forms of voice production, as seen in laryngeal cancer patients who have had the larynx removed and who subsequently rely on alaryngeal voicing for communication (McColl, Fucci, Petrosino, Martin, & McCaffrey, 1998;Eadie & Doyle, 2002).…”

Intelligibility of Tracheoesophageal Speech in Noise

“…Finally, the sentences were chosen based on their popularity and acceptance in previous research, as evidenced by their frequent use in intelligibility studies reported in the literature. 8,[14][15][16] The speaker occupied a sound-treated booth alone during recording. The speaker wore a pair of Grason-Stadler TDH39-10Z headphones (GrasonStadler, Madison, WI) throughout the recording procedure and was required to hold his forehead against a table-mounted head stabilizer apparatus specifically designed to maintain the integrity of the mouth-tomicrophone distance.…”