Age and sex differences on preferred listening rates for speech.

The preferred listening rate of speech was investigated in 30 men and 30 women aged 18--87 yrs. Ss were presented auditorially a reading of a standard prose passage and themselves adjusted a Varispeech I time compressor/expander to yield preferred listening rate. Differences in rate preference were significant for age but not for sex differences. Results support previous reports of auditory perceptual differences with increasing age and suggest that variability in previous reports of preferred listening rates may have been due in part to age differences of the Ss.