Does Implicit Racial Bias Affect Auditory-Perceptual Evaluations of Dysphonic Voices?

The purpose of this study was to understand the role of implicit racial bias in auditory-perceptual evaluations of dysphonic voices by determining if a biasing effect exists for novice listeners in their auditory-perceptual ratings of Black and White speakers.

Thirty speech-language pathology graduate students at Boston University listened to audio files of 20 Black speakers and 20 White speakers of General American English with voice disorders. Listeners rated the overall severity of dysphonia of each voice heard using a 100-unit visual analog scale and completed the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure their implicit racial bias.

Both Black and White speakers were rated as less severely dysphonic when their race was labeled as Black. No significant relationship was found between Harvard IAT scores and differences in severity ratings by race labeling condition.

These findings suggest a minimizing bias in the evaluation of dysphonia for Black patients with voice disorders. These results contribute to the understanding of how a patient's race may impact their visit with a clinician. Further research is needed to determine the most effective interventions for implicit bias retraining and the additional ways that implicit racial bias impacts comprehensive voice evaluations.