Acoustic Features of Emotional Speech in the Older and Younger Female Adults: Pitch, Intensity, and Utterance Duration in Positive Response Speech Acts

Objectives: This study examines age-related differences in acoustic characteristics of emotional speech, focusing on pitch, intensity, and utterance duration across four emotional types (happiness, sadness, anger, and neutral) in older and younger female adults. Methods: The participants consisted of 16 young female adults and 16 elderly female individuals, all of whom scored within normal ranges on the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination-2 and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Four emotional episodes were visually presented, and recordings were conducted with each episode being uttered three times. Emotional scenarios were developed to elicit empathetic and expressive speech, which was analyzed using Praat software (version 6.4.23). Results: Significant age-related differences were observed in minimum fundamental frequency and its range. Additionally, all intensity measures (mean intensity, minimum intensity, maximum intensity, and intensity range) differed significantly between the two groups. Utterance duration was longer in older adults than in younger adults, indicating a slower speech rate. Conclusion: These findings suggest age-related changes in vocal intensity and speech rate while preserving emotional expression capabilities, contributing to our understanding of aging and communication. This study goes beyond simply comparing the acoustic features of emotional speech by enabling a more precise analysis of the differences in emotional speech between the elderly and young adults. These findings provide important implications for future research on emotional speech and expand our understanding of emotional expression in older adults.