The emotional characteristics of the violin with different pitches, dynamics, and vibrato levels

Recent research has explored how the emotional characteristics of violin sounds are influenced by pitch and dynamics. This study extends previous work by considering the pitch, dynamics, and vibrato level effects on perceived valence, arousal, and 16 emotional categories. A listening test was conducted with 24 participants, who provided ratings on a 9-point Likert scale for both the valence and arousal of 32 single violin notes. Participants also indicated whether the 16 emotional labels described each sound. The results showed that pitch had the greatest impact, with higher pitches increasing arousal. Vibrato level was the second most influential factor - higher vibrato decreased valence but increased arousal. Dynamics had a relatively weaker effect, with louder dynamics increasing valence but surprisingly decreasing arousal. Interestingly, the associations between the 16 emotional categories were complex. Emotions within the same valence-arousal quadrant varied between quadrants. There was even stronger correlation between the low-valence-high-arousal and low-valence-low-arousal emotional categories than between low-valence-low-arousal and high-valence-low-arousal categories, where they might be expected. These findings provide detailed insight into how specific factors shape the perceived emotional characteristics of violin tones.