Review of Psychology

Affective and mood states. Vocal cues are tied to the current affective states of senders (Banziger¨ etal.2014,Knappetal.2014).Perceiversandlistenershavebeenshowntopickuponthefollowing cues: higher pitch and greater pitch range, more loudness, and faster speech rate for joy or elation; lower pitch, reduced loudness, slower rate, and longer pauses for sadness; and higher pitch, voice tremor, and various speech dysfluencies (e.g., stutter, incoherent sounds, repetition) for anxiety. Using information concerning pitch, sound pressure level, timbre, and length of pauses between words, Dasgupta (2017) observed that faster talking in a shrill and louder voice was associated with an agitated emotional state.
Obviously, senders’ affective states may change quickly due to situational factors. Although mood states tend to be longer lasting than affective states, they, too, have a dynamic quality. Mundt et al. (2007), for example, found that changes in depressed patients’ pitch (which was detected over the phone) indicated their positive response to therapeutic interventions.