Age Perceptions and Evaluative Reactions Toward Adult Speakers

This study was designed to assess listeners' ability to judge a taped speaker's age and to measure the extent to which personality ratings are affected by perceived age. In two experiments, undergraduate subjects demonstrated that speaker age can be reliably estimated over a wide range for both female and male voices. Furthermore, female speakers perceived to be older were viewed to be more reserved, passive, out-of-it, and inflexible than younger ones; males sounding older were viewed as less flexible than those sounding younger. In the light of these results, the experimental procedure employed appears to provide a promising approach to the indirect assessment of age stereotypes.