Knowledge about typical source output influences perceived auditory distance

Vocal effort is known to influence the judged distance of speechsound sources. The present research examined whether this influence is due to long-term experience gained prior to the experiment versus short-term experience gained from exposure to speech stimuli earlier in the same experiment. Speech recordings were presented to 192 blindfolded listeners at three levels of vocal output. Even upon the first presentation, shouting voices were reported as appearing farthest, whispered voices closest. This suggests that auditory distance perception can be affected by past experience in a way that does not require explicit comparisons between individual stimuli.