No abstract

Implantation age, musical interests, and voice quality tended to have an impact on correct emotion identification. Thus, in developing the cochlear implants, it may be worth paying attention to the acoustic structures of vocal emotional expressions, especially the formant frequency of F3. Supporting the musical interests of children with HI may help their emotional development and improve their social lives.

The present study investigates the role of F3 in the perception of valence of emotional expressions by using a vowel [a:] with different F3 values: the original, one with F3 either lowered or raised by 30% in frequency, and one with F3 removed. The vowel [a:] was extracted from the simulated emotions, inverse filtered and manipulated. The resulting 12 synthesized samples were randomized and presented to 30 listeners who evaluated the valence (positiveness/negativeness) of the expressions. The vowel with raised F3 was perceived more often as positive than the sample with original (p = 0.063), lowered (p = 0.006) or removed F3 (p = 0.066). F3 may affect perception of valence if the signal has sufficient energy in high frequency range.

Fundamental frequency (F₀) and intensity are known to be important variables in the communication of emotions in speech. In singing, however, pitch is predetermined and yet the voice should convey emotions. Hence, other vocal parameters are needed to express emotions. This study investigated the role of voice source characteristics and formant frequencies in the communication of emotions in monopitched vowel samples [a:], [i:] and [u:]. Student actors (5 males, 8 females) produced the emotional samples simulating joy, tenderness, sadness, anger and a neutral emotional state. Equivalent sound level (L_eq), alpha ratio [SPL (1–5 kHz) – SPL (50 Hz–1 kHz)] and formant frequencies F1–F4 were measured. The [a:] samples were inverse filtered and the estimated glottal flows were parameterized with the normalized amplitude quotient [NAQ = f_AC/(d_peakT)]. Interrelations of acoustic variables were studied by ANCOVA, considering the valence and psychophysiological activity of the expressions. Forty participants listened to the randomized samples (n = 210) for identification of the emotions. The capacity of monopitched vowels for conveying emotions differed. L_eq and NAQ differentiated activity levels. NAQ also varied independently of L_eq. In [a:], filter (formant frequencies F1–F4) was related to valence. The interplay between voice source and F1–F4 warrants a synthesis study.

The present study focused on voice quality and the perception of the basic emotions from speech samples in cross-cultural conditions. It was examined whether voice quality, cultural, or language background, age, or gender were related to the identification of the emotions. Professional actors (n2) and actresses (n2) produced non-sense sentences (n32) and protracted vowels (n8) expressing the six basic emotions, interest, and a neutral emotional state. The impact of musical interests on the ability to distinguish between emotions or valence (on an axis positivity – neutrality – negativity) from voice samples was studied. Listening tests were conducted on location in five countries: Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the USA with 50 randomly chosen participants (25 males and 25 females) in each country. The participants (total N = 250) completed a questionnaire eliciting their background information and musical interests. The responses in the listening test and the questionnaires were statistically analyzed. Voice quality parameters and the share of the emotions and valence identified correlated significantly with each other for both genders. The percentage of emotions and valence identified was clearly above the chance level in each of the five countries studied, however, the countries differed significantly from each other for the identified emotions and the gender of the speaker. The samples produced by females were identified significantly better than those produced by males. Listener's age was a significant variable. Only minor gender differences were found for the identification. Perceptual confusion in the listening test between emotions seemed to be dependent on their similar voice production types. Musical interests tended to have a positive effect on the identification of the emotions. The results also suggest that identifying emotions from speech samples may be easier for those listeners who share a similar language or cultural background with the speaker.