In this studies the effect of vocal conditions on age estimation were explored. In Experiment 1, the mode of voice such as whisper was examined. This is because whisper was easily realized by the speaker and it is known that in real criminal situation such modifications of voice has been used. The results showed that participants estimated whisper voices older than usual unmodified voices. According to the analysis of whisper voices, whisper voices were higher in pitch and smaller volume than usual unmodified voices. So in Experiment 2, we handled pitch level or volume (Experiment 3) of target voices. In Experiment 2, the results showed that when targets were male voice, participants estimated the voice older in high pitch level condition than in other conditions. In Experiment 3, there weren't significant differences among voice mode condition. From the experimental results it is found that the change of pitch level affected age estimation, but the change of voice volume didn't affect age estimation.
View full abstract