Camila Bruder, Klaus Frieler, Pauline Larrouy-Maestri
{"title":"Appreciation of singing and speaking voices is highly idiosyncratic.","authors":"Camila Bruder, Klaus Frieler, Pauline Larrouy-Maestri","doi":"10.1098/rsos.241623","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Voice preferences are an integral part of interpersonal interactions and shape how people connect with each other. While a large number of studies have investigated the mechanisms behind (speaking) voice attractiveness, very little research was dedicated to other types of vocalizations. In this Registered Report, we proposed to investigate voice preferences with an integrative approach. To this end, we used a newly recorded and validated stimulus set of contrasting vocalizations by 22 highly trained female singers speaking and singing the same material (in Brazilian Portuguese) in contrasting styles (sung as a lullaby, as a pop song or as an opera aria; and spoken aloud as if directed to an adult audience and as if directed to an infant). We asked 62 participants to rate these vocalizations in terms of how much they liked them; and we compared the amount of shared taste (that is, how much participants agreed in their preferences) across styles. We found highly idiosyncratic preferences across all styles. Our predictions concerning shared taste were not confirmed: although shared taste was higher for lullaby than for pop singing, it was unexpectedly higher for operatic than pop singing, and higher for infant-directed than adult-directed speech. Conversely, our prediction of limited consistency in average preferences for some singers across styles was confirmed, contradicting sexual selection-based ideas of singing and speaking as 'backup' signals of individual fitness. Our findings draw attention to the role of individual differences in voice preferences and highlight the need for a broader approach to understanding the underlying mechanisms of voice preferences. Stage 1 recommendation and review history: https://rr.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec?id=357. Stage 2 recommendation and review history: https://rr.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec?id=802.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 11","pages":"241623"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11537763/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Royal Society Open Science","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241623","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/11/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Voice preferences are an integral part of interpersonal interactions and shape how people connect with each other. While a large number of studies have investigated the mechanisms behind (speaking) voice attractiveness, very little research was dedicated to other types of vocalizations. In this Registered Report, we proposed to investigate voice preferences with an integrative approach. To this end, we used a newly recorded and validated stimulus set of contrasting vocalizations by 22 highly trained female singers speaking and singing the same material (in Brazilian Portuguese) in contrasting styles (sung as a lullaby, as a pop song or as an opera aria; and spoken aloud as if directed to an adult audience and as if directed to an infant). We asked 62 participants to rate these vocalizations in terms of how much they liked them; and we compared the amount of shared taste (that is, how much participants agreed in their preferences) across styles. We found highly idiosyncratic preferences across all styles. Our predictions concerning shared taste were not confirmed: although shared taste was higher for lullaby than for pop singing, it was unexpectedly higher for operatic than pop singing, and higher for infant-directed than adult-directed speech. Conversely, our prediction of limited consistency in average preferences for some singers across styles was confirmed, contradicting sexual selection-based ideas of singing and speaking as 'backup' signals of individual fitness. Our findings draw attention to the role of individual differences in voice preferences and highlight the need for a broader approach to understanding the underlying mechanisms of voice preferences. Stage 1 recommendation and review history: https://rr.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec?id=357. Stage 2 recommendation and review history: https://rr.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec?id=802.
期刊介绍:
Royal Society Open Science is a new open journal publishing high-quality original research across the entire range of science on the basis of objective peer-review.
The journal covers the entire range of science and mathematics and will allow the Society to publish all the high-quality work it receives without the usual restrictions on scope, length or impact.