The production of emotional speech has long been an intriguing subject in the research of Mandarin emotional speech, and one important aspect in this area is the variations in emotional speech among speakers from different backgrounds. Although much attention has been paid to sociolinguistic factors, such as language and culture, another key variable, sex, has received comparatively less exploration, despite its potential influence on emotional speech production. This study, therefore, explores how Mandarin Chinese speakers of different sexes acoustically express five primary emotions (anger, happiness, neutrality, sadness, and surprise) by employing the Emotional Speech Database and the extended Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set. Statistical analyses revealed a significant interaction between sex and emotion among Chinese speakers across various acoustic parameters, especially those related to fundamental frequency, energy stability, formant amplitude, and spectral configuration of the unvoiced section. The distinct patterns observed for male and female speakers, shaped by a complex interplay of biological and sociocultural influences, suggest that sex plays a pivotal role in the acoustic realization of emotional speech, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of emotional speech production.
Yao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.