Physiological and Emotional Reactions to Timbre in Voices and Instruments

Abstract

Humans detect and react to characteristics of timbre in speech and instrumental sounds, but the relationship between emotions conveyed by non-verbal vocalizations and those conveyed by electric guitar sounds is unknown. It is predicted that listeners will have the same physiological and emotional responses to guitar sounds as they do to corresponding non-linguistic emotional speech sounds. It is also predicted that sounds with more complex timbre will result in higher complexity in EEG signals. These hypotheses will be explored by collection and analysis of EEG data of participants as they listen and respond to guitar and vocal sounds. These sounds will be analyzed and compared on certain characteristics of timbre. EEG data will be smoothed with Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and analyzed for N400 ERPs. Alpha and beta waves will be extracted through a Wavelet Transform (WT), and then a Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) will be completed for complexity analysis. An understanding of psychophysiological reactions of listeners between electric guitar sounds with timbral variations and non-verbal affective vocalizations has the potential to inform creative choices in entertainment communities about non-linguistic elements of human communication and has potential applications for health and wellness.