The Difficulty of Listening to Time-Compressed Speech

Abstract

Forty normal college students rated the difficulty of listening to samples of speech subjected to 20, 30, 40, and 50% time compression compared with a standard consisting of normal speech. A male and female speaker were used. Results indicate that difficulty commences to increase and accelerate beyond 20% time compression to reach a value of about five times as difficult at 50% time compression. The male’s speech was increasingly less difficult to listen to than the female’s speech as the degree of time compression increased.