Encoding emotions in speech with the size code: A perceptual investigation

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Author list: Chuenwattanapranithi S., Xu Y., Thipakorn B., Maneewongvatana S.

Publisher: De Gruyter

Publication year: 2009

Journal: Phonetica: International Journal of Phonetic Science (0031-8388)

Volume number: 65

Issue number: 4

Start page: 210

End page: 230

Number of pages: 21

ISSN: 0031-8388

eISSN: 1423-0321

URL: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-60749103572&doi=10.1159%2f000192793&partnerID=40&md5=434b2a4793b19af04b51e7776d82eef1

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Abstract

Our current understanding of how emotions are expressed in speech is still very limited. Part of the difficulty has been the lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Here we report the findings of a somewhat unconventional investigation of emotional speech. Instead of looking for direct acoustic correlates of multiple emotions, we tested a specific theory, the size code hypothesis of emotional speech, about two emotions - anger and happiness. According to the hypothesis, anger and happiness are conveyed in speech by exaggerating or understating the body size of the speaker. In two studies consisting of six experiments, we synthesized vowels with a three-dimensional articulatory synthesizer with parameter manipulations derived from the size code hypothesis, and asked Thai listeners to judge the body size and emotion of the speaker. Vowels synthesized with a longer vocal tract and lower F0 were mostly heard as from a larger person if the length and F0 differences were stationary, but from an angry person if the vocal tract was dynamically lengthened and F0 was dynamically lowered. The opposite was true for the perception of small body size and happiness. These results provide preliminary support for the size code hypothesis. They also point to potential benefits of theory-driven investigations in emotion research. Copyright ฉ 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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