It's how you say it: Physicians' vocal behavior

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess evaluations of physicians interacting with patients via the telephone. Observers used ten adjective scales which resulted in three variables: empathic, dominant, and calm. Thirty doctor-patient interactions were presented in two different communication modes: audio-only and typed transcript-only. As predicted, female listeners rated doctors as more empathic dominant, and calm, and communication modes were significantly different with audio segments rated as more empathic, dominant, and calm. Middle phases of the conversation also were evaluated more positively than greeting phases. Significant interactions between temporal phase and mode indicated that audio segments were interpreted more positively during middle phases. Also, female listeners were more sensitive to audio segments. Physicians' amplitude and speech rate were positively correlated with dominance.