Learning factor influence on the perceptual-auditory analysis.

Purpose: To investigate the learning factor during a perceptual-auditory analysis of an unusual task in three different groups.
Methods: 269 listeners, divided into three groups: 73 voice specialists Speech Language Pathologists (EG), 84 voice specialists Speech Language Pathologists (NEG); and 112 non-speech pathologists in the Naive Group (NG). They all completed a listening session that included 18 synthesized and 18 human voices with different types and degrees of deviation (50% of repetition for intra-rater consistency analysis). The task was to classify the voices as human or synthesized. We analyzed the learning factor by comparing the initial error percentage, first 18 voices, with the final, last 18 voices.
Results: EG presented less error towards the end of the task (25.5%) than at the beginning (28.6%) with statistical difference (p = 0.024). The error percentage of the beginning and the end of the task did not differ for the NEG and the NG (NEG beginning = 36.5%, end = 35.3%; NG beginning = 38.3%, end = 37.7%).
Conclusion: The EG was the only group to present evidence of learning factor. Therefore, it seems that professional experience positively influences the perceptual-auditory analysis, which reinforces the impact of its training to become a voice specialist. Moreover, the voice specialists seem to be more prepared and more susceptible to use learning strategies to improve their performance during a perceptual-auditory analysis task, even if unusual.