The Persuasiveness of Synthetic Speech versus Human Speech

摘要

Is computer-synthesized speech as persuasive as the human voice when presenting an argument? After completing an attitude pretest, l93 participants were random- ly assigned to listen to a persuasive appeal under three conditions: a high-quality synthesized speech system (DECtalk Express), a low-quality synthesized speech system (Monologue), and a tape recording of a human voice. Following the appeal, participants completed a posttest attitude survey and a series of question- naires designed to assess perceptions of speech qualities, perceptions of the speak- er, and perceptions of the message. The human voice was generally perceived more favorably than the computer-synthesized voice, and the speaker was per- ceived more favorably when the voice was a human voice than when it was com- puter synthesized. There was, however, no evidence that computerized speech, as compared with the human voice, affected persuasion or perceptions of the mes- sage. Actual or potential applications of this research include issues that should be considered when designing synthetic speech systems.