Perceptual Characteristics of Gay-Sounding and Heterosexual-Sounding Speech

Numerous research studies have clearly demonstrated that listeners are able to distinguish between self-identified gay and heterosexual male talkers of American English (Gaudio, 1994; Linville, 1998; Munson, McDonald, DeBoe and White, 2006). The results of these studies are less clear as to which acoustic cues listeners rely on when forming their sexual orientation judgments and whether listeners from different geographic regions rely on the same repertoire of acoustic cues. The present series of experiments examined these two issues