Abstract
The present research examined the relationship between emotional reactions to sounds without meaning (tone and noise complexes) and objective sound descriptors. Two experiments showed that the core affect dimensions valence and activation were related to perceived loudness (intensity) and sharpness (perceived high frequency content), respectively. These results can be used as design criteria for emotion induction with sounds, implementation of emotional sounds in products, as well as in research on environmental noise perception.
Highlights
Research by Wundt suggested that emotional reactions to auditory events could be mapped onto a pleasantness-unpleasantness (Lust-Unlust) dimension (Wundt, 1924)
These findings are line with other research showing that tonal sounds decrease wakefulness and that sound level is related to annoyance
The present research goes beyond most research on noise annoyance in showing that it is useful to decompose emotional reactions to sounds into the two core affect dimensions valence and activation
Summary
Research by Wundt suggested that emotional reactions to auditory events could be mapped onto a pleasantness-unpleasantness (Lust-Unlust) dimension (Wundt, 1924). More recent studies on the relationship between emotional responses and sound characteristics have focused on a single affective state annoyance. Other research have demonstrated that two dimensions, valence and activation, are suited to describe emotional reactions to sounds (Björk, 1985). Bradley and Lang found that valence ratings was very weakly related to sound level (r = 0.07) and activation ratings was moderately related (r = 0.38). These correlations only accounted for 14% of the variance.
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