Sensory biases in nonverbal communication

The voice conveys a wealth of information about the speaker’s age, dominance, emotional state, etc.

Despite great progress in describing how this information is encoded acoustically, a general theory of why particular acoustic features convey particular meanings is still missing.

I propose to consider the role of fundamental cognitive mechanisms, namely the effect of cross-modal associations and auditory attention on the meaning of human nonverbal vocalizations such as laughs.

Using the voice synthesizer that I have developed, I will perform targeted acoustic manipulations to (1) measure the effect of frequency-related aspects of voice quality on perceived speaker’s size and dominance and (2) test the prediction that intense emotions change the voice in a manner optimal for involuntarily attracting the listeners’ attention.

As this project combines cognitive science with bioacoustics, it will greatly benefit from my planned two-year stay with the team led by Prof. Reby in France, which is unique in applying a biological approach to human voice modulation. The remaining year will be spent at Lund University Cognitive Science.

The project will provide new evidence about how the voice is used to communicate without words, help to perfect and popularize a novel tool for acoustic research, and contribute towards a deeper understanding of the general principles of vocal communication, with implications for such wide-ranging fields as the evolution of language and social robotics.