The influence of age, listener sex, and speaker sex on the McGurk effect

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether previous reports of higher sensitivity to the McGurk effect in females than males are influenced by Listener-Speaker sex concordance. Since the degree of motor engagement in speech perception is influenced by the perceived distance between speaker and listener, we sought to determine whether individuals are more likely to perceive the McGurk effect if they are the same sex as the speaker. Behavioral data was collected from 200 participants (100 female) as they identified syllables (audio "ba" paired with visual "ga") spoken by male and female speakers. When controlling for Age and Speaker sex, females experienced the McGurk effect at a higher rate than males, suggesting that previous reports of increased McGurk perception in females exist independent of speaker-related factors. Age and Speaker sex were non-significant, as was the interaction between Speaker sex and Listener sex. However, significant age-related interactions were observed. The Age by Listener sex interaction is proposed to arise from the higher incidence of hearing loss in males, leading to a greater reliance on visual cues with advancing age. A significant interaction between Age and Speaker sex is proposed to arise from greater attentional allocation to male speakers, possibly resulting from societal influences.