The effectiveness of a voice training program for telemarketers.

PURPOSE

To use a randomized design to evaluate the effectiveness of voice training programs for telemarketers via multidimensional analysis.

METHODS

Forty-eight telemarketers were randomly assigned to two groups: voice training group (n=14) who underwent training over an 8-week period and a nontraining control group (n=34). Before and after training, recordings of the sustained vowel /ɛ/ and connected were collected for acoustic and perceptual analyses.

RESULTS

Based on pre- and posttraining comparisons, the voice training group presented with a significant reduction in percent jitter (P=0.044). No other significant differences were observed, and inter-rater reliability varied from poor to fair.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that voice training improved a single acoustic dimension, but do not change perceptual dimension of telemarketers' voices.