The Effects of Contextual Priming and Alaryngeal Speech Mode on Auditory-Perceptual Ratings of Listener Comfort

Sebastiano Failla; Noor Al-Zanoon; Natalie Smith; Philip C Doyle

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.03.001

The Effects of Contextual Priming and Alaryngeal Speech Mode on Auditory-Perceptual Ratings of Listener Comfort

J Voice. 2021 Nov;35(6):934.e17-934.e23. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.03.001. Epub 2020 Apr 8.

Authors

Sebastiano Failla¹, Noor Al-Zanoon², Natalie Smith³, Philip C Doyle⁴

Affiliations

¹ Voice Production and Perception Laboratory, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
² Voice Production and Perception Laboratory, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: alzanoon@ualberta.ca.
³ Voice Production and Perception Laboratory, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Speech and Language Services, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Voice Production and Perception Laboratory, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.

PMID: 32278613
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.03.001

Abstract

Background: The effectiveness of postlaryngectomy communication methods (esophageal, tracheoesophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech) has been primarily evaluated using functional outcomes. This evaluation neglects the importance of listeners and their influence on communicative effectiveness. Listener comfort (LC), or the ease with which a listener interacts with alaryngeal speakers, may provide an important index of communicative effectiveness. The present study investigated the use of LC in the auditory-perceptual evaluation of alaryngeal speech modes, as well as evaluating the influence of contextual cues used to elicit ratings on listener judgments of all three alaryngeal modes.

Methods: Thirty-three naïve listeners provided independent ratings of LC for 39 alaryngeal speech samples using a visual analogue scaling procedure. Each group of listeners rated alaryngeal speech in three imagined listening conditions (Telephone Conversation, Social Situation, and a non-specified Control Condition). To analyze LC ratings obtained, a 3 × 3 mixed factor analysis of variance was conducted.

Results: A significant interaction effect between alaryngeal speech mode and listening condition (P = 0.04) was identified. Overall, pairwise comparisons of alaryngeal speech mode indicated that listeners were more comfortable when presented with tracheoesophageal speech samples compared to those of esophageal and electrolaryn geal speakers.

Conclusions: Our data suggest that LC ratings are influenced by alaryngeal speech mode. Tracheoesophagea speech was perceived to have the most favorable LC ratings compared to the other alaryngeal speech modes in all listening conditions. Contextual cues (i.e., social condition and telephone condition) did not have an effect on LC ratings.

Keywords: Alaryngeal speech; Listener comfort; Semantic priming; Total laryngectomy; Word priming.

MeSH terms

Auditory Perception
Humans
Judgment
Motor Activity
Speech Intelligibility*
Speech, Alaryngeal*