Vocal Characteristics of Older Adults and Stereotyping

Two studies extended the study of the nonverbal correlates of age stereotypes. In Study 1, 40 young listeners assessed the age of 30 elderly speakers from three age groups: 60–69, 70–79, 80 and over. As expected, perceived age increased linearly with age group, although greater variability was found in judgments of male than of female speakers. For male speakers, mean vocal volume (intensity) and standard deviations in vocal volume were positively correlated with chronological and perceived age. For female speakers, mean pitch, standard deviations in pitch, and vocal jitter were positively correlated with chronological and perceived age. In Study 2, 40 young listeners selected trait sets corresponding to 3 positive and 3 negative elderly stereotypes to describe 6 young-old and 6 old-old speakers. As predicted, listeners associated the old-old voices of females (but not males) with fewer positive stereotypes than the young-old female voices. In addition, young-old male voices were associated with significantly fewer positive stereotypes than young-old female voices. Finally, male participants chose fewer positive stereotypes for young-old male voices than did female participants. These results provide information on the ways in which vocal characteristics may serve to activate stereotypes in interaction.