2. Psychology of Voice

The sound of every individual’s voice is unique due to the difference in the size and shape of vocal cords. The vocal folds loosen and tighten resulting in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Analyzing speech from a physiological perspective, this chapter explores the pitch component of voice and how influential it can be. Interestingly, information regarding prosody, emotions, gender and age is affected by pitch and pitch can help in unconsciously divulging the feelings, moods and emotions. The chapter also enlightens vocal behaviour as a powerful index of emotional and personality markers which are paramount in the extraction of meaningful information from acoustic signals and contribute to a better understanding of the psychology of voice and performance capabilities.