Listeners' impressions of speakers with lateral lisps

This paper reports research conducted to determine whether the lateral lisp is a speech defect. The specific purpose of this research was to determine whether the lateral lisp calls adverse attention to the speaker. Two groups of broadcast communication students rates the concept "The Person Speaking" on a 49-scale semantic differential. One group performed the task after listening to a tape recording of a young woman reading contextual material with a simulated lateral lisp. The other group performed the task after listening to a recording of the same woman reading the material in a normal manner. Analyses of the scale values computed for the two conditions indicated that the lateral lisp called adverse attention to the speaker. A systematic replication was undertaken to assess the generality of this finding. The procedures of the original investigation were followed except that business administration students served as judges. The results replicated those of the original investigation. These data indicate that the lateral lisp is probably a speech defect and suggest that the practice of eliminating school speech services for children whose only speech difference is a lateral lisp should be reconsidered.