SHORT-TERM-MEMORY DEMANDS IN PROCESSING SYNTHETIC SPEECH BY OLD AND YOUNG-ADULTS

This experiment investigated the demands synthetic speech places on sh ort term memory by comparing performance of old and young adults on an ordinary short term memory task. Items presented were generated by a human speaker or by a computer based text-to-speech synthesizer. Resul ts were consistent with the idea that the comprehension of synthetic s peech imposes increased resource demands on the short term memory syst em. Older subjects performed significantly more poorly than younger su bjects, and both groups performed more poorly with synthetic than with human speech. Findings suggest that short term memory demands imposed by the processing of synthetic speech should be investigated further, particularly regarding the implementation of voice response systems i n devices for the elderly.