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In a Nervous Voice: Acoustic Analysis and Perception of Anxiety in Social Phobics’ Speech

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of anxiety on nonverbal aspects of speech using data collected in the framework of a large study of social phobia treatment. The speech of social phobics (N = 71) was recorded during an anxiogenic public speaking task both before and after treatment. The speech samples were analyzed with respect to various acoustic parameters related to pitch, loudness, voice quality, and temporal aspects of speech. The samples were further content-masked by low-pass filtering (which obscures the linguistic content of the speech but preserves nonverbal affective cues) and subjected to listening tests. Results showed that a decrease in experienced state anxiety after treatment was accompanied by corresponding decreases in (a) several acoustic parameters (i.e., mean and maximum voice pitch, high-frequency components in the energy spectrum, and proportion of silent pauses), and (b) listeners’ perceived level of nervousness. Both speakers’ self-ratings of state anxiety and listeners’ ratings of perceived nervousness were further correlated with similar acoustic parameters. The results complement earlier studies on vocal affect expression which have been conducted on posed, rather than authentic, emotional speech.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) through grants to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 1225, 751 42, Uppsala, Sweden

    Petri Laukka, Clas Linnman, Fredrik Åhs, Anna Pissiota, Örjan Frans, Vanda Faria, Mats Fredrikson & Tomas Furmark

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Åsa Michelgård

  3. Uppsala Imanet AB, Uppsala, Sweden

    Lieuwe Appel

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  1. Petri Laukka
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Correspondence to Petri Laukka.

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Laukka, P., Linnman, C., Åhs, F. et al. In a Nervous Voice: Acoustic Analysis and Perception of Anxiety in Social Phobics’ Speech. J Nonverbal Behav 32, 195–214 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0055-9

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