Acoustic Patterning of Emotion Vocalizations

Abstract

Starting with evolutionary considerations, this chapter provides a comprehensive overview of vocal emotion communication. On the production/encoding side, the effects of the physiological changes accompanying different emotions is described, highlighting the functional aspects of the acoustic patterns that are determined by emotion-antecedent appraisals and the consequent behavioural tendencies. Special efforts are made to examine the stability of the acoustic patterning for different emotions based on the available reports in the literature, with some attention to the underlying phonatory-articulatory mechanisms. A brief excursion examines the acoustic parameters characterizing emotions in singing. Next, the transmission of vocal signals from sender/encoder to receiver/decoder is briefly described and the literature on emotion inference by receivers (vocal emotion recognition) is reviewed. In this context, the use of path models to obtain a comprehensive investigation of the communication process as a whole is discussed and illustrated. The important issue of language and cultural differences in vocal emotion encoding and decoding is considered in the light of recent evidence. The discussion of applied aspects of the acoustic analysis of vocal emotion expression and recognition concludes the chapter. Specific attention is paid to the role of voice analysis in clinical diagnostics, for example in the case of depression, and for the detection of stress.