Comparison of Individual and Group Levels in Verbal Communication
Mark B. Gardner · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1971
A number of factors influence the level of vocal output that is employed in verbal communication. For a private exchange between two individuals who are also in visual contact, the level employed is influenced primarily by the level of the ambient noise and the nature of the communication task engaged in. On the other hand, little influence is introduced by changes in circuit gain when similar but visually isolated exchanges take place over a two-way loudspeaker system. For group situations, such as social hours, restaurant and theater environments, etc., the level employed is influenced primarily by the interference of surrounding vocal output to give an enhanced rate of increase of vocal output (with increasing numbers) not found in the privacy of the individual exchange.