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Payne B, Addlesee A, Rieser V, McGettigan C. Self-ownership, not self-production, modulates bias and agency over a synthesised voice. Cognition 2024; 248:105804. [PMID: 38678806 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Voices are fundamentally social stimuli, and their importance to the self may be underpinned by how far they can be used to express the self and achieve communicative goals. This paper examines how self-bias and agency over a synthesised voice is altered when that voice is used to represent the self in social interaction. To enable participants to use a new voice, a novel two-player game was created, in which participants communicated online using a text-to-speech (TTS) synthesised voice. We then measured self-bias and sense of agency attributed to this synthesised voice, comparing participants who had used their new voice to interact with another person (n = 44) to a control group of participants (n = 44) who had been only briefly exposed to the voices. We predicted that the new, synthesised self-voice would be more perceptually prioritised after it had been self-produced. Further, that participants' sense of agency over the voice would be increased, if they had experienced self-producing the voice, relative to those who only owned it. Contrary to the hypothesis, the results indicated that both experimental participants and control participants similarly prioritised the new synthesised voice and experienced a similar degree of agency over it, relative to voices owned by others. Critically then, being able to produce the new voice in a social interaction did not modulate bias towards it nor participant's sense of agency over it. These results suggest that merely having ownership over a new voice may be sufficient to generate a perceptual bias and a sense of agency over it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryony Payne
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, King's College London, United Kingdom.
| | - Angus Addlesee
- School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
| | - Verena Rieser
- School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
| | - Carolyn McGettigan
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, United Kingdom
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2
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Jo HJ, Park C, Lee E, Lee JH, Kim J, Han S, Kim J, Kim EJ, Kim E, Kim JJ. Neural Effects of One's Own Voice on Self-Talk for Emotion Regulation. Brain Sci 2024; 14:637. [PMID: 39061378 PMCID: PMC11274574 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14070637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2024] [Revised: 06/22/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
One's own voice undergoes unique processing that distinguishes it from others' voices, and thus listening to it may have a special neural basis for self-talk as an emotion regulation strategy. This study aimed to elucidate how neural effects of one's own voice differ from those of others' voices on the implementation of emotion regulation strategies. Twenty-one healthy adults were scanned using fMRI while listening to sentences synthesized in their own or others' voices for self-affirmation and cognitive defusion, which were based on mental commitments to strengthen one's positive aspects and imagining metaphoric actions to shake off negative aspects, respectively. The interaction effect between voice identity and strategy was observed in the superior temporal sulcus, middle temporal gyrus, and parahippocampal cortex, and activity in these regions showed that the uniqueness of one's own voice is reflected more strongly for cognitive defusion than for self-affirmation. This interaction was also seen in the precuneus, suggesting intertwining of self-referential processing and episodic memory retrieval in self-affirmation with one's own voice. These results imply that unique effects of one's own voice may be expressed differently due to the degree of engagement of neural sharpening-related regions and self-referential networks depending on the type of emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hye-jeong Jo
- Graduate School of Medical Science, Brain Korea 21 Project, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (H.-j.J.); (E.K.)
| | - Chanmi Park
- HCI Lab, Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (C.P.); (E.L.); (J.K.)
| | - Eunyoung Lee
- HCI Lab, Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (C.P.); (E.L.); (J.K.)
| | - Jee Hang Lee
- Department of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Sangmyung University, Seoul 03016, Republic of Korea;
| | - Jinwoo Kim
- HCI Lab, Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (C.P.); (E.L.); (J.K.)
| | - Sujin Han
- Department of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (S.H.); (J.K.)
| | - Joohan Kim
- Department of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (S.H.); (J.K.)
| | - Eun Joo Kim
- Graduate School of Education, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea;
| | - Eosu Kim
- Graduate School of Medical Science, Brain Korea 21 Project, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; (H.-j.J.); (E.K.)
- Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
| | - Jae-Jin Kim
- Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
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3
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Naunheim MR, Puka E, Huston MN. Do You Like Your Voice? A Population-Based Survey of Voice Satisfaction and Voice Enhancement. Laryngoscope 2023; 133:3455-3461. [PMID: 37309825 DOI: 10.1002/lary.30822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 05/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Voice enhancement for patients without obvious vocal pathology or loss of function is rarely discussed clinically or in academic research. Our objectives were to: (1) determine voice satisfaction on a population level, and (2) assess willingness to consider interventions to change one's voice. METHODS A standardized questionnaire was created to assess current and past voice disorders. Questions assessed demographics, health status, prevalence of voice disorders, and questions regarding satisfaction with voice. Iterative survey testing and piloting were performed. A cohort with age, gender, and geographic distribution of the general adult population was then queried in an online survey. Qualitative analysis and both descriptive and multivariate statistics were performed. RESULTS A total of 1522 respondents were included, with an age, gender, and regional distribution reflective of the US population. A minority (38.8%) of respondents reported that they did not like the sound of their own voice in normal conversation; when asked about listening to a recording of their own voice, a majority (57.5%) reported dissatisfaction with voice. Discontent with one's voice was associated with being middle age (p = 0.005), female gender (p < 0.0001), and white race (p < 0.0001). Approximately 50.6% of respondents without a history of dysphonia would consider interventions to change their voice. Of those who indicated they may elect to change their voice, qualities regarding clarity and pitch were paramount. CONCLUSION Dissatisfaction with one's speaking voice is common. A considerable percentage of the general population without a voice disorder would consider interventions to change their voice. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3 Laryngoscope, 133:3455-3461, 2023.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Naunheim
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Elefteria Puka
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Molly N Huston
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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4
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Lavan N, McGettigan C. A model for person perception from familiar and unfamiliar voices. COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 1:1. [PMID: 38665246 PMCID: PMC11041786 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-023-00001-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
When hearing a voice, listeners can form a detailed impression of the person behind the voice. Existing models of voice processing focus primarily on one aspect of person perception - identity recognition from familiar voices - but do not account for the perception of other person characteristics (e.g., sex, age, personality traits). Here, we present a broader perspective, proposing that listeners have a common perceptual goal of perceiving who they are hearing, whether the voice is familiar or unfamiliar. We outline and discuss a model - the Person Perception from Voices (PPV) model - that achieves this goal via a common mechanism of recognising a familiar person, persona, or set of speaker characteristics. Our PPV model aims to provide a more comprehensive account of how listeners perceive the person they are listening to, using an approach that incorporates and builds on aspects of the hierarchical frameworks and prototype-based mechanisms proposed within existing models of voice identity recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Lavan
- Department of Experimental and Biological Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Carolyn McGettigan
- Department of Speech, Hearing, and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, London, UK
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5
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Cheung S, Babel M. The own-voice benefit for word recognition in early bilinguals. Front Psychol 2022; 13:901326. [PMID: 36118470 PMCID: PMC9478475 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study examines the self-voice benefit in an early bilingual population. Female Cantonese-English bilinguals produced words containing Cantonese contrasts. A subset of these minimal pairs was selected as stimuli for a perception task. Speakers' productions were grouped according to how acoustically contrastive their pronunciation of each minimal pair was and these groupings were used to design personalized experiments for each participant, featuring their own voice and the voices of others' similarly-contrastive tokens. The perception task was a two-alternative forced-choice word identification paradigm in which participants heard isolated Cantonese words, which had undergone synthesis to mask the original talker identity. Listeners were more accurate in recognizing minimal pairs produced in their own (disguised) voice than recognizing the realizations of speakers who maintain similar degrees of phonetic contrast for the same minimal pairs. Generally, individuals with larger phonetic contrasts were also more accurate in word identification for self and other voices overall. These results provide evidence for an own-voice benefit for early bilinguals. These results suggest that the phonetic distributions that undergird phonological contrasts are heavily shaped by one's own phonetic realizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Cheung
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Molly Babel
- Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Peng Z, Hu Z, Wang X, Jiao T, Li H, Liu H. Gender context modulation on the self-enhancement effect of vocal attractiveness evaluation. Psych J 2021; 10:858-867. [PMID: 34323015 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
People evaluated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others rated their voices (i.e., self-enhancement effect from the perspective of the rater, termed "SE_rater"), and people also rated their own voices as more attractive than the voices of others (i.e., self-enhancement effect from the perspective of the voice, termed "SE_voice"). The aim of the present study is to explore whether the gender context (i.e., same-sex and opposite-sex rating context) could influence the SE effect of voice attractiveness evaluation. Male and female participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of their own voices and other participants' voices, either in a same-sex session or an opposite-sex session. The results demonstrated both the SE_rater and SE_voice effect in the same-sex and opposite-sex contexts, for both male and female. More importantly, we found that the SE_rater for the male voices was significantly greater than that for the female voices in the same-sex context whereas no such difference was found in the opposite-sex context. In addition, the SE_voice effect in men was larger in the same-sex context than that in the opposite-sex context whereas the SE_voice in women was smaller in the same-sex context than that in the opposite-sex context. These findings indicated that the self-enhancement effect of vocal attractiveness was modulated by the gender context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhikang Peng
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhiguo Hu
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xinyu Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tiantian Jiao
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hanxiaoran Li
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hongyan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
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7
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Peng Z, Wang Y, Meng L, Liu H, Hu Z. One's own and similar voices are more attractive than other voices. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ajpy.12235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhikang Peng
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University, Hangzhou, China,
| | - Yanran Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University, Hangzhou, China,
| | - Linghao Meng
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University, Hangzhou, China,
| | - Hongyan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University, Hangzhou, China,
| | - Zhiguo Hu
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China,
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China,
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8
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Payne B, Lavan N, Knight S, McGettigan C. Perceptual prioritization of self-associated voices. Br J Psychol 2020; 112:585-610. [PMID: 33068323 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Revised: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Information associated with the self is prioritized relative to information associated with others and is therefore processed more quickly and accurately. Across three experiments, we examined whether a new externally-generated voice could become associated with the self and thus be prioritized in perception. In the first experiment, participants learned associations between three unfamiliar voices and three identities (self, friend, stranger). Participants then made speeded judgements of whether voice-identity pairs were correctly matched, or not. A clear self-prioritization effect was found, with participants showing quicker and more accurate responses to the newly self-associated voice relative to either the friend- or stranger- voice. In two further experiments, we tested whether this prioritization effect increased if the self-voice was gender-matched to the identity of the participant (Experiment 2) or if the self-voice was chosen by the participant (Experiment 3). Gender-matching did not significantly influence prioritization; the self-voice was similarly prioritized when it matched the gender identity of the listener as when it did not. However, we observed that choosing the self-voice did interact with prioritization (Experiment 3); the self-voice became more prominent, via lesser prioritization of the other identities, when the self-voice was chosen relative to when it was not. Our findings have implications for the design and selection of individuated synthetic voices used for assistive communication devices, suggesting that agency in choosing a new vocal identity may modulate the distinctiveness of that voice relative to others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryony Payne
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, UK
| | - Nadine Lavan
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, UK.,Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, UK
| | - Sarah Knight
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
| | - Carolyn McGettigan
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, UK
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9
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Peng Z, Hu Z, Wang X, Liu H. Mechanism underlying the self‐enhancement effect of voice attractiveness evaluation: self‐positivity bias and familiarity effect. Scand J Psychol 2020; 61:690-697. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhikang Peng
- Department of Psychology Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University Hangzhou 310018 China
| | - Zhiguo Hu
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou 311121 China
- Institute of Psychological Sciences Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou 311121 China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou 311121 China
| | - Xinyu Wang
- Department of Psychology Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University Hangzhou 310018 China
| | - Hongyan Liu
- Department of Psychology Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University Hangzhou 310018 China
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10
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Mahrholz G, Belin P, McAleer P. Judgements of a speaker's personality are correlated across differing content and stimulus type. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0204991. [PMID: 30286148 PMCID: PMC6171871 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
It has previously been shown that first impressions of a speaker's personality, whether accurate or not, can be judged from short utterances of vowels and greetings, as well as from prolonged sentences and readings of complex paragraphs. From these studies, it is established that listeners' judgements are highly consistent with one another, suggesting that different people judge personality traits in a similar fashion, with three key personality traits being related to measures of valence (associated with trustworthiness), dominance, and attractiveness. Yet, particularly in voice perception, limited research has established the reliability of such personality judgements across stimulus types of varying lengths. Here we investigate whether first impressions of trustworthiness, dominance, and attractiveness of novel speakers are related when a judgement is made on hearing both one word and one sentence from the same speaker. Secondly, we test whether what is said, thus adjusting content, influences the stability of personality ratings. 60 Scottish voices (30 females) were recorded reading two texts: one of ambiguous content and one with socially-relevant content. One word (~500 ms) and one sentence (~3000 ms) were extracted from each recording for each speaker. 181 participants (138 females) rated either male or female voices across both content conditions (ambiguous, socially-relevant) and both stimulus types (word, sentence) for one of the three personality traits (trustworthiness, dominance, attractiveness). Pearson correlations showed personality ratings between words and sentences were strongly correlated, with no significant influence of content. In short, when establishing an impression of a novel speaker, judgments of three key personality traits are highly related whether you hear one word or one sentence, irrespective of what they are saying. This finding is consistent with initial personality judgments serving as elucidators of approach or avoidance behaviour, without modulation by time or content. All data and sounds are available on OSF (osf.io/s3cxy).
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaby Mahrholz
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Pascal Belin
- Institut des Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, CNRS and Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
| | - Phil McAleer
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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11
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The Vocal Extent Measure: Development of a Novel Parameter in Voice Diagnostics and Initial Clinical Experience. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2018; 2018:3836714. [PMID: 29686998 PMCID: PMC5857339 DOI: 10.1155/2018/3836714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2017] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Voice range profile (VRP) and evaluation using the dysphonia severity index (DSI) represent essentials of instrument-based objective voice diagnostics and are implemented in different standardized registration programs. The respective measurement results, however, show differences. The aim of the study was to prove these differences statistically and to develop a new parameter, the Vocal Extent Measure (VEM), which is not influenced by the measurement program. VRPs of 97 subjects were recorded by two examiners using the established registration programs DiVAS (XION medical) and LingWAVES (WEVOSYS) simultaneously. The VEM was developed on the basis of VRP area and perimeter. All 194 VRP files were analyzed for various parameters and gender independence. The registration programs exhibited significant differences in several vocal parameters. A significant gender influence for DSI was found with DiVAS (p < 0.01), but not with LingWAVES. The VEM quantified the dynamic performance and frequency range by a unidimensional, interval-scaled value without unit, mostly between 0 and 120. This novel parameter represents an intelligible and user-friendly positive measure of vocal function, allows simple and stable VRP description, and seems to be suitable for quantification of vocal capacity. In contrast to DSI, the VEM proved to be less susceptible to registration program and gender.
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