Sex of the Speaker, Sex of the Listener, and Listening Comprehension

One hundred thirty-seven male and two hundred twenty-five female undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee heard recordings of 14 short, informative messages. Each message had been recorded by one of seven male or seven female upper level communication students. Following each message subjects responded to six multiple choice items about the content of the message. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference in listening scores for male and female subjects. A significant interaction between sex of listener and sex of speaker was found, but this interaction accounted for so little of the total variance that it was deemed of little practical importance. It was concluded that neither the sex of the listener nor the interaction of sex of listeners and sex of speakers were of much consequence in determining the listening scores of the subjects of this experiment.