YOURE ONLY AS OLD AS YOU SOUND - PERCEIVED VOCAL AGE AND SOCIAL MEANINGS

Studies have shown that listeners are reasonably accurate in guessing adult age from voice. Our study was based on the premise that speakers ' perceived age (rated by listeners) was more a function of their self -reported subjective and/or contextual ages than their actual chronolo gical ages. Interviews with 36 socially active, healthy men and women aged 59 to 92 years (M = 77 years) were recorded. Age-neutral extracts of the interviews were subjected to a series of assessments (i.e., ag e estimates, vocal characteristic judgments, and psychological trait a ttributions) by different groups of 512 young adults. Contrary to hypo theses, yet nonetheless important, was the finding that subjective and contextual ages were no better predictors of perceived age than was c hronological age. Unexpectedly, and even more important, was the findi ng that how old a person sounded, rather than how old one was or even how old one felt, best predicted negative psychological judgments. Reg ression analyses showed that four vocal variables (unclear, strained, vowel elongation, and lack of coarse voice) predicted perceived age, w hich itself was correlated with five stereotypical traits (frail, ill- natured, subdued, incompetent, and dependent). Perceived age from voic e might be a potent and hitherto underappreciated social factor influe ncing the dynamics of intergenerational communication. Some important implications for health concerns are discussed.