Summary
This study aimed to investigate the role of voice source and formant frequencies in
the perception of emotional valence and psychophysiological activity level from short
vowel samples (∼150 milliseconds). Nine professional actors (five males and four females)
read a prose passage simulating joy, tenderness, sadness, anger, and a neutral emotional
state. The stress carrying vowel [a:] was extracted from continuous speech during
the Finnish word [ta:k:ahan] and analyzed for duration, fundamental frequency (F0), equivalent sound level
(Leq), alpha ratio, and formant frequencies F1–F4. Alpha ratio was calculated by subtracting
the Leq (dB) in the range 50 Hz–1 kHz from the Leq in the range 1–5 kHz. The samples were inverse filtered by Iterative Adaptive Inverse Filtering and
the estimates of the glottal flow obtained were parameterized with the normalized
amplitude quotient (NAQ = fAC/(dpeakT)). Fifty listeners (mean age 28.5 years) identified the emotional valences from
the randomized samples. Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis was used to study
the interrelations of the parameters for perception. It appeared to be possible to
identify valences from vowel samples of short duration (∼150 milliseconds). NAQ tended
to differentiate between the valences and activity levels perceived in both genders.
Voice source may not only reflect variations of F0 and Leq, but may also have an independent role in expression, reflecting phonation types.
To some extent, formant frequencies appeared to be related to valence perception but
no clear patterns could be identified. Coding of valence tends to be a complicated
multiparameter phenomenon with wide individual variation.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 29, 2008
Accepted:
April 14,
2008
Footnotes
Part of the paper was presented at The Voice Foundation's 35th Annual Symposium “Care of the Professional Voice,” May 31–June 4, 2006, Philadelphia, and part of it at the “3rd World Voice Conference 2006,” June 20–22, 2006, Istanbul.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
