Vocal beauty: a mediating variable in the negative stereotyping of dysphonic speakers

Abstract

Context: A range of studies have consistently shown that listeners associate negative psychosocial characteristics to speakers with dysphonia. The reasons why have not formerly been explored. A better understanding of the mechanisms behind this negative stereotype could help to develop attitude-changing measures towards voice disorders.

Aim: We want to explore if the negative psychosocial stereotype linked to dysphonia is due to dysphonia’s negative impact on perceived vocal beauty.

Methods: A group of naïve listeners was asked to listen to female voice samples with varying degrees of dysphonia according to the Grade (G) of the GRBAS scale, and then to rate the perceived degree of vocal beauty for each voice on a visual analogue scale. They were also asked to infer personal characteristics of each speaker on a set of 21 Bipolar semantic scales.

Results: Mediation analyses showed that G significantly and negatively predicts perceptions of vocal beauty (p < .001) and that vocal beauty in its turn was significantly and positively predicting inferences of negative psychosocial characteristics in the speakers (p < .001). When vocal beauty was partialled out, the negative impact of G was diminished or even cancelled.

Conclusion: Our results show that in female speakers, the negative impact of dysphonia on the attribution of speakers’ personal characteristic is explained by the negative impact of dysphonia on perceived vocal beauty. Our results support the hypothesis that the beauty stereotype underlies the negative biases existing towards dysphonic speakers. We suggest that clinicians should be aware of this mechanism when promoting awareness about dysphonia.

Keywords:

• Vocal beauty
• dysphonia
• stereotyping
• auditory perception

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declaration of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ingrid Verduyckt

Ingrid Verduyckt, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at the University of Montreal. She holds a Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Lund University, Sweden, and a PhD in Psychology and Education from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. She has expertise in the production and perception of the human voice, as well as musical and visual arts training. Her research projects are focused on issues in the fields of rehabilitation and pedagogy that she approaches in a multidisciplinary way by rallying her team of expertise from the technological, educational and artistic sectors.

Dominique Morsomme

Dominique Morsomme is a Professor in the Faculty of Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, and Educational Sciences at the University of Liège, Belgium. She is a lecturer in the Department of Speech and Language Therapy and heads the Voice Unit. She also works as a vocologist at the Hospital of Liège. Her clinical activities focus on the evaluation of voice disorders and on voice feminization.