Acoustic cues for emotions in vocal expression and music

Abstract: Previous research shows that emotional expressions in speech and music use similar patterns of acoustic cues to communicate discrete emotions. The aim of the present study was to experimentally test if manipulation of the acoustic cues; F0, F0 variability, loudness, loudness variability and speech rate/tempo, affects the identification of discrete emotions in speech and music. Forty recordings of actors and musicians expressing anger, fear, happiness, sadness and tenderness were manipulated to either go with or against the acoustic patterns that previous studies suggest. Thirty-two participants listened to 120 recordings and judged which emotion they thought the actress or musician tried to communicate. Results showed an overall effect of manipulation in the expected direction, but the manipulation affected some emotions (anger, happiness and sadness) but not others (fear and tenderness). A non-significant interaction effect between manipulation and mode indicated that the manipulation had a similar effect on the stimulus for both speech and music.