Department of Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 16;12(1):2611. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05170-6.
The human voice carries socially relevant information such as how authoritative, dominant, and attractive the speaker sounds. However, some speakers may be able to manipulate listeners by modulating the shape and size of their vocal tract to exaggerate certain characteristics of their voice. We analysed the veridical size of speakers' vocal tracts using real-time magnetic resonance imaging as they volitionally modulated their voice to sound larger or smaller, corresponding changes to the size implied by the acoustics of their voice, and their influence over the perceptions of listeners. Individual differences in this ability were marked, spanning from nearly incapable to nearly perfect vocal modulation, and was consistent across modalities of measurement. Further research is needed to determine whether speakers who are effective at vocal size exaggeration are better able to manipulate their social environment, and whether this variation is an inherited quality of the individual, or the result of life experiences such as vocal training.
人类的声音携带着与社会相关的信息，例如说话者听起来有多权威、有支配力和有吸引力。然而，一些说话者可能能够通过调节他们的声道形状和大小来操纵听众，从而夸大他们声音的某些特征。当说话者自愿调节他们的声音以使其听起来更大或更小时，我们使用实时磁共振成像来分析他们声道的真实大小，这与声音的音响学所暗示的大小变化以及他们对听众感知的影响相对应。这种能力的个体差异显著，从几乎无法进行到几乎完美的声音调节都有，并且在不同的测量模式下都是一致的。还需要进一步的研究来确定是否善于夸大声音大小的说话者更能够操纵他们的社会环境，以及这种变化是个体的遗传特质，还是声音训练等生活经历的结果。
