Journal o f Psycholinguistic Research, VoL 1, No. 3, 1972
Personality Traits Associated with Voice Types N o r m a n N. Markel, 1 J u d i t h A. Phillis, 1 R o b e r t Vargas, 1,2 and K e n n e t h H o w a r d 3
Received May 24, 1971
Speech samples and 16 PF scores were obtained from 104 male college students. The speech samples were rated for loudness and tempo and four voice quality profile types were identified: loud-fast; loud-slow; soft-fast; softoslow. Analysis of variance indicated a significant difference between the four groups on the 16 PF. On the basis of this study and a previous study using the MMPI, actuarial descriptions o f the specific personality traits associated with each voice quality profile type are presented.
INTRODUCTION The Voice Quality Profile is based on the voice qualities of pitch, loudness, and tempo. The prof'fles derived from ratings on these three voice qualities are peak-pitch, peak-loudness, and peak-tempo, depending upon which of the three qualities is relatively highest. Previous studies have found relationships between Voice Quality Profile and MMPI profiles (Markel, 1969a), perceived emotional state (Costanzo et aL, 1969), children's perceptions of speaker personality (Phillis, 1970), and characteristics of healthy personalities (Vargas, 1968). The success in relating the Voice Quality Profile to both tests of speaker personality and listener perceptions of speakers has led to a reconsideration of the Voice Quality Profile. Important factors which led to this reconsideration are: (1) There is reason to believe that absolute (normative) levels on the 1University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 2Present address: Catonsville Community College, Catonsville, Maryland. 3Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. 2.49 (~ 1972 Plenum Publishing
Corporation, 227 West
17th Street, N e w York, N.Y. 10011.
250
Matkel, Phillis, Vargas, and Howard
voice qualities are as important to voice and personality relationships as relative (ipsative) levels. (2) In the studies cited above, small but significant
correlations were obtained between pitch, loudness, and tempo. (3) In these studies the reliability for rating pitch is always markedly lower than that for loudness and tempo. (4) In studies now being conducted with members of both sexes and with children, the rating and interpretation of pitch differences are highly complicated. These considerations led to the conclusion that more useful information might be obtained from a refined Voice Quality Profile of the two most easily identifiable voice qualities. The purpose of the present work is to extend the study of the relationship between voice quality and personality traits to a sample of normal adults, and to examine the usefulness of a Voice Quality Profile based only on loudness and tempo. METHOD Subjects Ss were drawn from an initial pool of 124 white male students at the University of Florida. Twenty Ss were randomly discarded to obtain an equal number (N = 26) in the groups for the analysis of variance.
Personality Measure The 16 PF, which was designed for use with normal as well as clinical populations, was administered to all Ss (Cattell and Eber, 1957). The sten scores of Ss on the 16 personality factors were employed as the measure of personality in the present study.
Speech Samples
Speech samples were obtained from the Ss' responses to the following question: "'What do you think of the Zip Code system?" A microphone was placed lavaliere fashion on each S and his response to the question was tape recorded. Following the collection of the data, the speech samples were recorded in random order on a "test tape." Rating Voice Qualities Seven judges were trained to rate the voice qualities following procedures which have been described previously 0Vlarkel, 1965). All 124 speech
Personality Traits Associated with Voice Types
251
samples were then rated by these seven judges. The ratings for loudness and tempo were made on 5-point bipolar scales, SOFT-LOUD and SLOW-FAST. The speech samples on the training tapes had been selected from previous studies, so that no voice rated during the training procedures appears on the test tapes used in this study. None of the raters had information about the 16 PF scores of the Ss whose voices they were rating. Inter-rater reliability was estimated by the method developed by Ebel (1951) and specifically followed the procedures described by Guilford (1954). These reliabilities were 0.92 for loudness and 0.87 for tempo.
Voice Quality erofde Groups Voice Quality ProRle groups were established by comparing T-scores on loudness and tempo. T-scores of 50 or greater were designated as "loud" for loudness and "fast" for tempo. T-scores less than 50 were designated as "soft" for loudness and "slow" for tempo. Four Voice Quality ProFile groups were then identified and labeled as follows: loud-fast; loud-slow; soft-fast; soft-slow. Table I indicates the mean T-scores on loudness and tempo for each of the four Voice Quality Profile groups. One-way analysis of variance was employed to evaluate differences among the four Voice Quality Profile groups on loudness and tempo, and for both qualities differences between the four groups were significant beyond the 0.01 level (loudness: F = 70.08, df = 3t00; tempo: F = 71.36, df = 3100). Individual group means on each of the qualities were compared by t-tests. The two "loud" groups (loud-fast and loud-slow) were significantly different from the two "soft" groups (soft-fast and softslow) on loudness; and, the two "fast" groups (loud-fast and soft-fast) were significantly different from the two "slow" groups (loud-slow and soft-slow) on tempo. In addition, on tempo the two "slow" groups (loud-slow and soft-slow) were significantly different from each other.
Table I. Mean T-scores on Loudness and Tempo for Each of the Voice Quality Prof'fle Groups i ii
Voice Quality Profilegroups a
Quality
LF
LS
SF
SS
Loudness Tempo
56
55
43
43
56
45
54
42
aLF, loud-fast; LS, loud-slow;SF, soft-fast;SS, soft-slow.
252
Markel, Phillis, Vaxgas, and Howard
0%
O
o
r
r
t,.,. ,..~
o
o
~tJ
q0
m
~
r
O,, ' ~
r~
.
Personality Traits Associated with Voice Types N o r m a n N. Markel, 1 J u d i t h A. Phillis, 1 R o b e r t Vargas, 1,2 and K e n n e t h H o w a r d 3
Received May 24, 1971
Speech samples and 16 PF scores were obtained from 104 male college students. The speech samples were rated for loudness and tempo and four voice quality profile types were identified: loud-fast; loud-slow; soft-fast; softoslow. Analysis of variance indicated a significant difference between the four groups on the 16 PF. On the basis of this study and a previous study using the MMPI, actuarial descriptions o f the specific personality traits associated with each voice quality profile type are presented.
INTRODUCTION The Voice Quality Profile is based on the voice qualities of pitch, loudness, and tempo. The prof'fles derived from ratings on these three voice qualities are peak-pitch, peak-loudness, and peak-tempo, depending upon which of the three qualities is relatively highest. Previous studies have found relationships between Voice Quality Profile and MMPI profiles (Markel, 1969a), perceived emotional state (Costanzo et aL, 1969), children's perceptions of speaker personality (Phillis, 1970), and characteristics of healthy personalities (Vargas, 1968). The success in relating the Voice Quality Profile to both tests of speaker personality and listener perceptions of speakers has led to a reconsideration of the Voice Quality Profile. Important factors which led to this reconsideration are: (1) There is reason to believe that absolute (normative) levels on the 1University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 2Present address: Catonsville Community College, Catonsville, Maryland. 3Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. 2.49 (~ 1972 Plenum Publishing
Corporation, 227 West
17th Street, N e w York, N.Y. 10011.
250
Matkel, Phillis, Vargas, and Howard
voice qualities are as important to voice and personality relationships as relative (ipsative) levels. (2) In the studies cited above, small but significant
correlations were obtained between pitch, loudness, and tempo. (3) In these studies the reliability for rating pitch is always markedly lower than that for loudness and tempo. (4) In studies now being conducted with members of both sexes and with children, the rating and interpretation of pitch differences are highly complicated. These considerations led to the conclusion that more useful information might be obtained from a refined Voice Quality Profile of the two most easily identifiable voice qualities. The purpose of the present work is to extend the study of the relationship between voice quality and personality traits to a sample of normal adults, and to examine the usefulness of a Voice Quality Profile based only on loudness and tempo. METHOD Subjects Ss were drawn from an initial pool of 124 white male students at the University of Florida. Twenty Ss were randomly discarded to obtain an equal number (N = 26) in the groups for the analysis of variance.
Personality Measure The 16 PF, which was designed for use with normal as well as clinical populations, was administered to all Ss (Cattell and Eber, 1957). The sten scores of Ss on the 16 personality factors were employed as the measure of personality in the present study.
Speech Samples
Speech samples were obtained from the Ss' responses to the following question: "'What do you think of the Zip Code system?" A microphone was placed lavaliere fashion on each S and his response to the question was tape recorded. Following the collection of the data, the speech samples were recorded in random order on a "test tape." Rating Voice Qualities Seven judges were trained to rate the voice qualities following procedures which have been described previously 0Vlarkel, 1965). All 124 speech
Personality Traits Associated with Voice Types
251
samples were then rated by these seven judges. The ratings for loudness and tempo were made on 5-point bipolar scales, SOFT-LOUD and SLOW-FAST. The speech samples on the training tapes had been selected from previous studies, so that no voice rated during the training procedures appears on the test tapes used in this study. None of the raters had information about the 16 PF scores of the Ss whose voices they were rating. Inter-rater reliability was estimated by the method developed by Ebel (1951) and specifically followed the procedures described by Guilford (1954). These reliabilities were 0.92 for loudness and 0.87 for tempo.
Voice Quality erofde Groups Voice Quality ProRle groups were established by comparing T-scores on loudness and tempo. T-scores of 50 or greater were designated as "loud" for loudness and "fast" for tempo. T-scores less than 50 were designated as "soft" for loudness and "slow" for tempo. Four Voice Quality ProFile groups were then identified and labeled as follows: loud-fast; loud-slow; soft-fast; soft-slow. Table I indicates the mean T-scores on loudness and tempo for each of the four Voice Quality Profile groups. One-way analysis of variance was employed to evaluate differences among the four Voice Quality Profile groups on loudness and tempo, and for both qualities differences between the four groups were significant beyond the 0.01 level (loudness: F = 70.08, df = 3t00; tempo: F = 71.36, df = 3100). Individual group means on each of the qualities were compared by t-tests. The two "loud" groups (loud-fast and loud-slow) were significantly different from the two "soft" groups (soft-fast and softslow) on loudness; and, the two "fast" groups (loud-fast and soft-fast) were significantly different from the two "slow" groups (loud-slow and soft-slow) on tempo. In addition, on tempo the two "slow" groups (loud-slow and soft-slow) were significantly different from each other.
Table I. Mean T-scores on Loudness and Tempo for Each of the Voice Quality Prof'fle Groups i ii
Voice Quality Profilegroups a
Quality
LF
LS
SF
SS
Loudness Tempo
56
55
43
43
56
45
54
42
aLF, loud-fast; LS, loud-slow;SF, soft-fast;SS, soft-slow.
252
Markel, Phillis, Vaxgas, and Howard
0%
O
o
r
r
t,.,. ,..~
o
o
~tJ
q0
m
~
r
O,, ' ~
r~
.
