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DOES CHAOS MAKE MAMMALIAN CALLS SOUND MORE ALARMING TO HUMAN LISTENERS?

Terrade, Anna ; Massenet, Mathilde ; Anikin, Andrey LU orcid ; Pernel, Lise ; Mathevon, Nicolas and Reby, David (2023) 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023 In Proceedings of Forum Acusticum
Abstract

Mammalian vocalisations are extremely diverse, and evolutionary approaches to understanding this diversity assume that much of their acoustic form maps onto their function, with specific features serving universal roles. Here, we hypothesize that nonlinear phenomena (i.e., deterministic chaos, sidebands, subharmonics, and frequency jumps), which make the voice perceptually rough or harsh, contribute to the alarming quality of mammalian vocalisations. To test this, we investigated whether adding such acoustic irregularities to synthetic replicas of calls produced by a range of terrestrial mammals increased their alarming quality. We found that, independently of the species, the presence of nonlinear phenomena, especially chaos, made... (More)

Mammalian vocalisations are extremely diverse, and evolutionary approaches to understanding this diversity assume that much of their acoustic form maps onto their function, with specific features serving universal roles. Here, we hypothesize that nonlinear phenomena (i.e., deterministic chaos, sidebands, subharmonics, and frequency jumps), which make the voice perceptually rough or harsh, contribute to the alarming quality of mammalian vocalisations. To test this, we investigated whether adding such acoustic irregularities to synthetic replicas of calls produced by a range of terrestrial mammals increased their alarming quality. We found that, independently of the species, the presence of nonlinear phenomena, especially chaos, made calls more alarming for human listeners. While these results hint at a universal function of NLP in the mammalian vocal repertoire, future studies should now investigate whether the alarming effect of nonlinear phenomena holds for non-human species.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Human perception, Mammalian communication, Nonlinear vocal phenomena
host publication
Forum Acusticum 2023 - 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023
series title
Proceedings of Forum Acusticum
publisher
European Acoustics Association, EAA
conference name
10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023
conference location
Torino, Italy
conference dates
2023-09-11 - 2023-09-15
external identifiers
  • scopus:85191251572
ISSN
2221-3767
ISBN
9788888942674
DOI
10.61782/fa.2023.0985
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
060c4d17-e665-4d1e-a41d-9c3be25f1162
date added to LUP
2025-01-15 10:17:51
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:01:57
@inproceedings{060c4d17-e665-4d1e-a41d-9c3be25f1162,
  abstract     = {{<p>Mammalian vocalisations are extremely diverse, and evolutionary approaches to understanding this diversity assume that much of their acoustic form maps onto their function, with specific features serving universal roles. Here, we hypothesize that nonlinear phenomena (i.e., deterministic chaos, sidebands, subharmonics, and frequency jumps), which make the voice perceptually rough or harsh, contribute to the alarming quality of mammalian vocalisations. To test this, we investigated whether adding such acoustic irregularities to synthetic replicas of calls produced by a range of terrestrial mammals increased their alarming quality. We found that, independently of the species, the presence of nonlinear phenomena, especially chaos, made calls more alarming for human listeners. While these results hint at a universal function of NLP in the mammalian vocal repertoire, future studies should now investigate whether the alarming effect of nonlinear phenomena holds for non-human species.</p>}},
  author       = {{Terrade, Anna and Massenet, Mathilde and Anikin, Andrey and Pernel, Lise and Mathevon, Nicolas and Reby, David}},
  booktitle    = {{Forum Acusticum 2023 - 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023}},
  isbn         = {{9788888942674}},
  issn         = {{2221-3767}},
  keywords     = {{Human perception; Mammalian communication; Nonlinear vocal phenomena}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{European Acoustics Association, EAA}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of Forum Acusticum}},
  title        = {{DOES CHAOS MAKE MAMMALIAN CALLS SOUND MORE ALARMING TO HUMAN LISTENERS?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.61782/fa.2023.0985}},
  doi          = {{10.61782/fa.2023.0985}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}