Honors Program
Honors Program: Embargoed Theses
First Advisor
Dr. Angela Dietsch
Date of this Version
Spring 3-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
Pham, K. 2025. Hello, Can You Hear Me?: Acoustic Predictors of Listeners' Gender Perceptions. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
Communication features are closely tied to personal identity and public perception. When individuals vary from rigid societal expectations of gender presentation, such as within transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) communities, there is often a risk of discrimination and harmful treatment. Thus, many individuals seek gender-affirming communication intervention services to match presentation to gender identity. Speech-language pathologists often support this process, by providing insight into communication features that are key to gender perception. To help these clients and professionals, we asked naïve and unfamiliar listeners to evaluate a variety of voice samples, containing speakers across the gender spectrum, providing statements about gender and personality. We used these impressions to group speakers by perceived gender and personal characteristics, such as presentation of self, attitude towards others, and perception of intelligence. Accuracy in gender identification by listeners averaged 41.5%, varying widely by listener. Analysis of acoustic features revealed differences in fundamental frequency, pitch contour, and speaking rate, which could be linked to trends in personality assessment. The perceptions and associated acoustic data provide important guidelines to customize gender affirming communication intervention to particular client goals.
Comments
Copyright Kayli Pham 2025.