Vocal Expression and Perception of Emotion

Speech is an acoustically rich signal that provides considerable personal information about talkers. The expression of emotions in speech sounds and corresponding abilities to perceive such emotions are both fundamental aspects of human communication. Findings from studies seeking to characterize the acoustic properties of emotional speech indicate that speech acoustics provide an external cue to the level of nonspecific arousal associated with emotionalprocesses and to a lesser extent, the relative pleasantness of experienced emotions. Outcomes from perceptual tests show that listeners are able to accurately judge emotions from speech at rates far greater than expected by chance. More detailed characterizations of these production and perception aspects of vocal communication will necessarily involve knowledge aboutdifferences among talkers, such as those components of speech that provide comparatively stable cues to individual talkers identities.