Getting yourself out of a bad mood could be as simple as making yourself sound happy.
Researchers digitally manipulated people’s voices while they were talking to make them sound happier, sadder, or more fearful.
They found that, when listening to their own altered voice, the participants’ emotional state changed in accordance with the new emotion.
Getting yourself out of a bad mood could be as simple as making yourself sound happy, according to a study which suggests altering our voice can change how we feel. Stock image pictured
This happened even though the men and women were not aware their voices had been manipulated, the researchers said.
The findings suggest people listen to their own voice to lean how they are feeling, they said.
‘The relationship between the expression of emotions has been a long-standing topic of disagreement in the field of psychology,’ said Petter Johansson, one of the authors from Lund University in Sweden.
‘This is the first evidence of direct-feedback effects on emotional experience in the auditory domain.’
For the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers created a new digital audio platform.
They then used it to modify the pitch, inflection and the range of participants’ voices as they read a short story aloud while hearing their own altered voice through a headset.
The new platform could potentially be used to treat people suffering from mood disorders, such as depression, the researchers suggested.
Retelling emotional memories, or re-describing emotionally laden events in a modified tone of voice could ‘induce positive attitude change’ they said.
Researchers digitally manipulated people’s voices while they were talking to make them sound happier, sadder, or more fearful. Listening to the altered voice recordings elicited changes in the participants’ perceived emotional state, in accordance with the new emotion (figure from paper pictured)
Voice recordings were modified by tweaking the pitch, inflection and range of participants’ voices as they read a short story aloud while hearing their own altered voice through a headset (figure from paper pictured). The new platform could potentially be used to treat people suffering from mood disorders, such as depression
On a lighter note, it could also be used to ‘enhance the emotional impact of karaoke or live singing performances, or maybe to alter the emotional atmosphere of conversations in online meetings and gaming’, the academics said.
‘Previously, this kind of emotion manipulation has not been done on running speech, only on recorded segments,’ said lead author Jean-Julien Aucouturier from the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
‘We are making a version of the voice manipulation platform available as open-source on our website, and we invite anyone to download and experiment with the tools.’
The researchers have now made the digital audio software availableonline.
MOOD SWINGS COULD BE A GOOD THING
Rather than being a weakness, changing mood is nature's way to of helping us adapt to an ever changing world. Stock image
Scientists have argued that changing moods – as seen in sulking teenagers, grumpy spouses, or bad-tempered parents - serve an important purpose.
Rather than being a weakness, they are nature's way to of helping us adapt to an ever changing world.
So when times are good and spirits are high, we take more risks at a time they are likely to be rewarded.
And when times are tough, sulking can help us conserve our energy.
Eran Eldar, of University College London said: 'This effect of mood should be useful whenever different sources of reward are interconnected or possess an underlying momentum.
'That may often be the case in the natural as well as in the modern world, as successes in acquiring skills, material resources, social status, and even mating partners may all affect one another.'
When rewards are starting to thin out – for example if winter is coming – then a negative mood will result in an individual event, such as finding a fruit, being 'downgraded'– allowing behaviour and expectations to be quickly adjusted downwards.
The authors suggest that this could lead to behaviours such as an animal deciding to save energy and hibernate instead of rushing around.
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