# Assessing Gender Bias in Auditory-Perceptual Ratings of Tracheoesophageal Speakers
## 4 Discussion  
The objective of this study was directed at the question of how a listener's knowledge of a TE speaker's gender would influence their judgments of the auditory-perceptual features of SA and LC. While concerns have evolved from the past literature around the potential for differential social penalty specific to voice quality in those who are laryngectomized, these investigations sought to assess gender differences associated with TE speech. In seeking to address this question, several variables were purposely controlled. In anticipation of the deception component of this experiment (Session 1), speaker samples were chosen based on the experimenter's evaluation that the samples included were ambiguous and not obviously associated with either gender. Had the samples clearly sounded male or female, the deception aspect of the experiment may have become apparent to the listener, and we believe that listener ratings of female speakers would have deteriorated further. However, consideration should be given to the fact that TE samples are characterized by lower fundamental frequency and considerable noise [2], which inherently decrease the overall feminine characteristics of the voices [13]. Therefore, to control for variables that might influence perceptual judgements, several steps were taken as part of the experimental design, namely, the deception in Session 1. First, four randomized lists of speaker samples were developed so that listeners were always presented with a uniquely ordered list of samples on which to complete their ratings. Secondly, the auditory-perceptual feature rated in each session was counterbalanced (i.e., if ratings of SA or LC were carried out first, the opposite feature would be rated during the second session). Efforts were made to evaluate listener judgements in the context of speaker gender, and, thus, listeners were directed to the gender identification of each of the speaker samples prior to each listening session; this was true whether judgments were being made for either the true gender identification or deception condition. In evaluating the present data, it is important to consider what the SA ratings obtained in this study suggest. As described in the previous literature by [PERSON] and colleagues [13], judgments of SA encourage the listener to identify \"acceptability\" as it relates to their own personal beliefs about deviation from a normal signal and potential disability [26]. Thus, it is not unreasonable to assume that gender is a critical factor in determining a level of acceptability regardless of speaker gender. That is, listeners likely have preconeceived templates of how men and women should sound, and, when intrinsic perceptual standards are violated, or thresholds challenged, the associated ratings of a sample will be altered [8; 13]. However, in this regard and specific to the present data, it is interesting to note that penalizing judgements were more apparent for female TE speakers for SA as compared to LC. Figure 9: The mean ratings of listener comfort for TE speakers across Sessions 1 (Gender Opposite) and 2 (Gender Known) based on gender. By strict definition, there is some degree of \"comfort\" inherently considered in \"acceptability\" ratings; thus, the features may not be entirely mutually exclusive. Yet, there were differences in how these two auditory-perceptual constructs (i.e., SA and LC) were rated across listening sessions. It appears that when listeners are requested to make overall judgments about a speaker's voice, LC may comprise one component of the rating, but more quantitative aspects of the voice, such as its pitch, noise level, etc., may further influence such overall judgments of SA [29]. This difference between the SA scores across sessions was pronounced for the female TE speaker population, suggesting that when female TE speakers were believed to be male, listeners rated the samples as being slightly more acceptable than when the samples were known to be female.