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The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship among speakers' heights, weights, body surface areas, and speaking fundamental frequencies. The recordings of 30 speakers' readings of a standard prose passage were analyzed by means of the Fundamental Frequency Indicator (FFI) to obtain their speaking fundamental frequency characteristics. The speakers' heights and weights were obtained by means of standard measurement procuedures, and their body surface areas were calculated. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, computed separately for men and women, indicated that speakers' heights, weights, and body surface areas were not significantly correlated with their speaking fundamental frequencies; female speakers showed a slight negative correlation while male speakers showed a low, positive trend. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

To determine if listeners can accurately identify various environmental sounds, a total of 40 sounds, including animal, inanimate, musical, and human sounds, were recorded, randomly arranged on a master tape, and presented to 30 judges for identification. Analysis indicated that, in general, listeners can accurately identify environmental sounds. However, their accuracy was not equal for all four classes of sounds investigated: human sounds yielded the highest accuracy, followed by musical and inanimate sounds, and animal sounds were least accurately identified. Implications and suggestions for research are discussed.

To determine the effect of speakers' attempts to disguise their voices on listeners' accuracy in age judgments, 26 speakers, 13 females and 13 males, recorded six sentences under three conditions: (a) in a normal manner, actually were, and (c) in a manner in which they attempted to sound much older than they actually were. Three master tapes were constructed, one for each of the three conditions. A total of 20 judges, 10 females and 10 males, participated in three sessions, one for each of the three master tapes. In each session they were asked to judge the age of the speaker of each sentence and, using a seven-point confidence rating scale, to indicate the over-all confidence in their judgments at the end of each session. Although a majority of speakers yielded age estimates consistent with the conditions of intended disguise, the differences in listeners' estimates among all three conditions were relatively small. Moreover, differences between speakers' actual ages and listeners' age estimates in the control condition were also small. Implications of the findings and suggestions for research are discussed.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if listener comprehension is differentially affected by two different techniques of time alteration: the sampling method and the harmonic compression method. The Nelson-Denny Reading Test, consisting of 8 selections of scientific and literary content appropriate for college students with respect to interest and level of difficulty, was presented to 3 groups of 40 Ss each; each group was given the tape-recorded test after processing at one of the 3 speech rates, normal, half normal, or twice normal rate. Of the 8 selections on this test, 4 were processed by sampling using a VARISPEECH-I compressor/expander, and 4 were processed by harmonic compression using a Lockheed LM-312 Pitch Normalizer. There were of course some differences in listener comprehension as a function of rate, but within each of the rate conditions there were no significant differences as a function of method of time alteration. With the type of speech material used here, and within these rate conditions, these time alteration methods can be used interchangeably in such research.

The purpose of this survey was to determine the general public's awareness and knowledge of cleft palate. Telephone questionnaires were completed by a random sample of 1,200 persons, 200 in each of six cities within four states. The results indicated only limited information and awareness of cleft palate. Suggestions for improving general public awareness and educational programs are discussed.