• We present three different studies, starting off from six different existing notation systems and then refining and testing the most promising visualizations and modes of presentation in two further studies. • We combine different methodologies by carrying out think-aloud usability test, thus collecting both qualitative statements and behavioral data on student performance, which we compare with a large-scale reception experiment. • We find that iconic systems are easier to interpret than symbolic ones; • we find that stylized contours may lead to better productions than concrete contours; • we find that combining stress and intonation in the same notation is not a problem in itself and that a two-step presentation, in which the information on the stress pattern of the utterance is presented first, can help the integration of information on stress and intonation; • nevertheless, we find that the notation system we propose, which combines stress information with stylized intonation contours, turns out most robust, leading reliably to good learner productions. In this paper, we present three studies in which we develop and test different representations of intonation contours and prosodic stress with the aim to provide foreign language learners with a notation that they can easily interpret. Study I addresses learners’ productions of target intonation based on six common notation systems. The results reveal how learners themselves make sense of the different representations and show that learners produce fewest errors in iconic representations with stylized contours. Based on these results, Study II examines the role of complexity of information by experimenting with one- versus two-step presentations of the teaching material. While Study I was carried out as a production task by pairs of learners, Study II shows in an online perception test with native speakers that a stylized representation with a sparse representation of stress performs best. Study III explores these findings in another production task. The results confirm that the most suitable visualization technique of those investigated is to present stylized intonation contours with the main points of emphasis added, and that a two-step presentation can be helpful.

This study uses expert ratings and prosodic analyses of the most popular 2025 video speeches of the German DAX-40 CEOs to investigate the interplay of visual, verbal, and prosodic factors in perceiving speaker charisma. Results show strong correlations between all factors, point to a special role of prosody, and provide initial evidence for industry-specific speaking styles.

In the field of public speaking, studies have mainly centered on the effects of virtual reality (VR) environments in reducing public speaking anxiety (PSA). However, prior research on the effect of VR simulations on high-school students' performance in terms of the prosody of their speech and number of gestures while being immersed in a VR scenario is limited to just one study. The present paper examines the effects of practicing speeches with a VR-simulated audience on self-perceived PSA, and speaking performance qualified on the basis of the prosodic characteristics of the presenter’s voice and the rate of gestures they use while presenting. Forty-seven high school students participated in either a VR group that practiced a two-minute speech in front of a virtual audience, or a Non-VR group that delivered the same oral presentation alone in a room. Crucially, these were compared with a baseline initial oral task where students presented in front of a live audience. Practicing with VR resulted in significant differences across the groups pointing to VR-trained voices becoming stronger, more effortful and louder. Simulated audience seems to help speakers develop more audience-oriented prosody. This is particularly useful for rehearsing public speaking skills in the context of secondary school education to improve students' oral competence.

Stress has notorious and debilitating effects on individuals and entire industries alike, with instances of stress continuing to rise post-pandemic. We investigate here (1) if the new technology of Vibroacoustic Sound Massage (VSM) has beneficial effects on user wellbeing and (2) if we can measure these effects based on the biosignal of speech prosody. Forty participants read a text before and after VSM treatment (45 min). The 80 readings were subjected to a multi-parameteric acoustic-prosodic analysis. Results provided positive answers to (1) and (2), showing that timbre and pitch features were most sensitive to VSM treatment, followed by loudness and pausing. Overall, participants spoke more deeply, softly, and slowly after VSM, suggesting that they were in a more relaxed state. Practical implications and future research perspectives are discussed.

This study investigated the effects of loudness and smiling on timbre of speech in different languages and genders. A group of native speakers of Mandarin, German, and Danish (10 participants per language) were recorded while blocks of 10 sentences in 2x3 block-wise randomized loudness and smiling conditions. Four-way ANOVAs were conducted on 10 timbre parameters, including F1, F2, F3, H1-H2, H1-A3, HNR, CPP, CoG, jitter, and shimmer. Results showed that loudness affected more timbre features than smiling. Mandarin differed from German and Danish in such timbre features such as HNR and CPP, modulated by loudness and smiling. There were no acoustics interactions between loudness and smiling in any of the three languages.

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The paper introduces a new device for analyzing, teaching, and training jaw movements: the MARRYS helmet. We outline the motivation for the development of the helmet, describe its key advantages and features relative to those of the Electromagnetic Articulograph (EMA) and illustrate by means of selected study portraits the possible uses of the MARRYS helmet in the various fields of the empirical and applied speech sciences.

Based on a medium-sized sample of English investor-oriented business-idea presentations (so-called “investor pitches”), the present paper investigates the links between speech rhythm and perceived speaker charisma. Eight trained public speakers are recorded while performing the same investor pitch twice, once in an emotionally-neutral matter-of-fact fashion and once charismatically, i.e. in an expressive, committed onstage presentation style. The recorded presentations were rated by 21 listeners for their degree of perceived speaker charisma - and additionally acoustically analyzed in terms of established duration-based rhythm measures such as Θ, Δ, and PVI. We find significant rhythmic differences between the matter-of-fact and charismatic presentation performances and, in conjunction with the perception results, we show that consonantal rhythmic elements play a bigger role in the perception than in the production of a rhythmic charisma, and that especially the duration variation of larger rhythm elements correlates positively and gender-independently with charisma ratings. The findings are discussed in light of previous studies with their practical implications.

Many social robots will have the capacity to interact via speech in the future, and thus they will have to have a voice. However, so far it is unclear how we can create voices that fit their robotic speakers. In this article, we explore how robot voices can be designed to fit the size of the respective robot. We therefore investigate the acoustic correlates of human voices and body size. In Study I, we analyzed 163 speech samples in connection with their speakers’ body size and body height. Our results show that specific acoustic parameters are significantly associated with body height, and to a lesser degree to body weight, but that different features are relevant for female and male voices. In Study II, we tested then for female and male voices to what extent the acoustic features identified can be used to create voices that are reliably associated with the size of robots. The results show that the acoustic features identified provide reliable clues to whether a large or a small robot is speaking.

In this study, we examine whether touching a soft robot while doing different tasks can make participants synchronize their breathing rhythm with the robot. 28 participants interacted with the robot, which either was inflated and deflated, thus simulating breathing, or remained inactive. During the experiment, data were collected through two breathing belts and an EEG device. The findings of the study suggest higher arousal associated with positive emotional valence for participants in the breathing robot condition compared to the inactive robot condition. The participants in the breathing robot condition also breathed more deeply and regularly and blinked fewer times, a finding that suggests lower stress levels in comparison with people who interacted with the inactive robot. The analysis of the data suggests that touching the breathing robot led to some degrees of stress reduction, yet without leading to synchronization with the robot's inhalation rhythm.

Several studies have shown that rhetorical wh-questions (RQs) and string-identical information-seeking wh-questions (ISQs) are realized with different prosodic characteristics. In contrast to ISQs, RQs have been shown to be phonetically realized with a breathier (i.e., softer) voice quality (e.g., German and English) and longer constituent durations (e.g., German, English, Icelandic). Based on similar results found for different languages, we investigate wh-RQs and sting-identical wh-ISQs in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and German (G). We analyze (i) whether specific duration and voice-quality patterns characterize and separate the two illocution types (RQ and ISQ) in BP, and (ii) if direct measures of the respiratory sub-system reveal differences between illocution types, given that breathiness involves greater transglottal air flow which can be observed in the speakers’ chest and/or abdomen movement. Our data suggest that, similar to G, English, and Icelandic, duration and voice quality patterns play a role in the realization of RQs compared to ISQs in BP, reinforcing the assumption that there are cross-linguistically similar phonetic features in the realization of RQs compared to ISQs. We also find that speakers of G breathe in more deeply and dynamically than speakers of BP, suggesting a link between breathing and voice quality.

Hate speech, both written and spoken, is a growing source of concern as it often discriminates societal minorities for their national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disabilities. Despite its destructive power, hardly anything is known about whether there are cross-linguistic mechanisms and acoustic-phonetic characteristics of hate speech. For this reason, our experiment analyzes the implicit prosodies that are caused by written Twitter and Facebook hate-speech items and made phonetically "tangible" through a special, introspective reading-aloud task. We compare the elicited (implicit) prosodies of Danish and German speakers with respect to f0, intensity, HNR, and the Hammarberg index. While we found no evidence for a consistent hate-speech-specific prosody either within or between the two languages, our results show clear prosodic differences associated with types of hate speech and their targeted minority groups. Moreover, language-specific differences suggest that – compared to Danish – German hate speech sounds more expressive and hateful. Results are discussed regarding their implications for the perceived severity and the automatic flagging and deletion of hate-speech posts in social media.

In this article, we address to what extent the proverb “the sound makes the music” also applies to human-robot interaction, and whether robots could profit from using speech characteristics similar to those used by charismatic speakers like Steve Jobs. In three empirical studies, we investigate the effects of using Steve Jobs’ and Mark Zuckerberg's speech characteristics during the generation of robot speech on the robot's persuasiveness and its impressionistic evaluation. The three studies address different human-robot interaction situations, which range from online questionnaires to real-time interactions with a large service robot, yet all involve both behavioral measures and users’ assessments. The results clearly show that robots can profit from using charismatic speech.

This paper is a first investigation into the influence of the pitch range and the intensity variation on the number of subscribers, views and likes of YouTube Creators. A total of ten minutes of speech material from five English and five North-American YouTubers was analyzed. The results for pitch range and intensity variation suggest that an increase in both parameters results in higher subscriber counts. For views, there was no influence of pitch range, but an increase in intensity variation results in a lower number of views. Pitch range and intensity variation had no influence on the like count. Furthermore, both origin and gender had an influence on the results. Ultimately, this study will provide further information for the phonetic research of charisma (i.e., the perceived charm, competence, power, and persuasiveness of a speaker), as it is suspected that the acoustic features that have so far been connected to charisma also play an important role in the success of a YouTuber and their channel.

In this paper, we test whether the perception of filled-pause (FP) frequency and public-speaking performance are mediated by the phonetic characteristics of FPs. In particular, total duration, vowel-formant pattern (if present), and nasal segment proportion of FPs were correlated with perceptual data of 29 German listeners who rated excerpts of business presentations given by 68 German-speaking managers. Results show strong inter-speaker differences in how and how often FPs are realized. Moreover, differences in FP duration and nasal proportion are significantly correlated with estimated (i.e. subjective) FP frequency and perceived speaker performance. The shorter and more nasal a speaker's FPs are, the more do listeners underestimate the speaker's actual FP frequency and the higher they rate the speaker's public-speaking performance. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for FP saliency and rhetorical training.

Strong communication skills in public-speaking and team-working exercises are associated with specific acoustic-prosodic profiles and strategies. We hypothesize that analyzing and assessing these profiles and strategies allows us to predict communicative skills. To that end, we used two analysis methods, one for charismatic and persuasive public speaking (PASCAL), and one for cooperative communication (DPA). PASCAL and DPA competency scores are determined on an acoustic basis for speech recordings of 21 students whose task was to co-create, in 7 teams of 3 students, a fully functioning weather station over 14 weeks in an Electrical Engineering project course - and to jointly write a development report about it afterwards. Results show that the students' PASCAL scores are significantly correlated with both the grade in their final oral project presentation and the grade of their written report as assessed by an independent lecturer group. The DPA scores correlate with better time-management and team working as well as with the quality and functionality of the designed product. Explanations for the links between student performance and acoustic competence scores are discussed.

We analyze the phonetic correlates of petitionary prayer in 22 Christian practitioners. Our aim is to examine if praying is characterized by prosodic markers of dialogue speech and expected efficacy. Three similar conditions are compared; 1) requests to God, 2) requests to a human recipient, 3) requests to an imaginary person. We find that making requests to God is clearly distinguishable from making requests to both human and imaginary interlocutors. Requests to God are, unlike requests to an imaginary person, characterized by markers of dialogue speech (as opposed to monologue speech), including, a higher f0 level, a larger f0 range, and a slower speaking rate. In addition, requests to God differ from those made to both human and imaginary persons in markers of expected efficacy on the part of the speaker. These markers are related to a more careful speech production, including al-most complete lack of hesitations, more pauses, and a much longer speaking time.

A perception experiment involving 28 German listeners is presented. It investigates – for sequences of request, pause, and affirmative answer – the effect of pause duration on the answerer's perceived willingness to comply with the request. Replicating earlier results on American English, perceived willingness was found to decrease with increasing pause duration, particularly above a "tolerance threshold" of 600 ms. Refining and qualifying this replicated result, the perception experiment showed additional effects of speaking-rate context and pause quality (silence vs. breathing vs. café noise) on perceived willingness judgments. The overall results picture is discussed with respect to the origin of the "tolerance threshold", the status of breathing in speech, and the function of pauses in communication.

Research on speech reduction is primarily concerned with analyzing, modeling, explaining, and, ultimately, predicting phonetic variation. That is, the focus is on the speech signal itself. The present paper adds a little side note to this fundamental line of research by addressing the question whether variation in the degree of reduction also has a systematic effect on the attributes we ascribe to the speaker who produces the speech signal. A perception experiment was carried out for German in which 46 listeners judged whether or not speakers showing 3 different combinations of segmental and prosodic reduction levels (unreduced, moderately reduced, strongly reduced) are appropriately described by 13 physical, social, and cognitive attributes. The experiment shows that clear speech is not mere speech, and less clear speech is not just reduced either. Rather, results revealed a complex interplay of reduction levels and perceived speaker attributes in which moderate reduction can make a better impression on listeners than no reduction. In addition to its relevance in reduction models and theories, this interplay is instructive for various fields of speech application from social robotics to charisma coaching.

Previous studies showed for German and other (West) Germanic language, including English, that perceived syllable prominence is primarily controlled by changes in duration and F0, with the latter cue being more powerful than the former. Our study is an initial approach to develop this prominence hierarchy further by putting numbers on the interplay of duration and F0. German listeners indirectly judged through lexical identification the relative prominence levels of two neighboring syllables. Results show that an increase in F0 of between 0.49 and 0.76 st is required to outweigh the prominence effect of a 30% increase in duration of a neighboring syllable. These numbers are fairly stable across a large range of absolute F0 and duration levels and hence useful in speech technology.

Previous studies proved the immense importance of nonverbal skills when it comes to being persuasive and coming across as charismatic. It was also found that men sound more convincing and persuasive (i.e. altogether more charismatic) than women under otherwise comparable conditions. This gender bias is investigated in the present study by analyzing and comparing acoustic-melodic charisma features of male and female business executives. In line with the gender bias in perception, our results show that female CEOs who are judged to be similarly charismatic as their male counterpart(s) produce more and stronger acoustic charisma cues. This suggests that there is a gender bias which is compensated for by making a greater effort on the part of the female speakers.

We show on the basis of German that prosodic patterns change in the course of a traditional sentence-list elicitation. Two frequent methods are analyzed: sentence-frame and syntax-frame elicitations. While only the sentences of the sentence-frame elicitation show an increase in speaking rate, both elicitation methods cause a drastic reduction in the alignment variability of nuclear pitch-accent rises. So, the starting point for the idea of segmental anchoring, i.e. the characteristic stable alignment of L and H targets, could primarily be due to a training effect based on the continuous production of analogously constructed or identical carrier sentences. Detailed pitch-accent analyses also offer alternative interpretations for anchoring patterns. Methodologically, in order to avoid training effects in pitchaccent production, our findings suggest using the syntax-frame method and short sentence lists of 40 items or less.

The presented study concerns the influence of the syllabic structure on perceived prominence. We examined how gaps in the F0 contour due to unvoiced consonants affect prominence perception, given that such gaps can either be filled or blinded out by listeners. For this purpose we created a stimulus set of real disyllabic words which differed in the quantity of the vowel of the accented syllable nucleus and the types of subsequent intervocalic consonant(s). Results include, inter alia, that stimuli with unvoiced gaps in the F0 contour are indeed perceived as less prominent. The prominence reduction is smaller for monotonous stimuli than for stimuli with F0 excursions across the accented syllable. Moreover, in combination with F0 excursions, it also mattered whether F0 had to be interpolated or extrapolated, and whether or not the gap included a fricative sound. The results support both the filling-in and blinding-out of F0 gaps, which fits in well with earlier experiments on the production and perception of pitch.

German knows two plateau-based phrase-final intonation contours: The high level plateau of the continuation rise and the descending plateau sequence of the calling contour. They occur within a narrow scaling range of only a few semitones. The paper presents production and perception evidence for a third plateau-based phrase-final intonation contour inside this narrow scaling range. The new plateau contour shows a F0 decrease of between 1-3 st (in the form of a slightly declining plateau or a descending plateau sequence), involves additional lengthening of the vowels underneath the plateau, and occurs when resistance is futile, i.e. when speakers signal that they finally, but reluctantly, give in to a demand of the dialogue partner. Phonological implications are briefly outlined.

The paper deals with perceived speech rhythm, starting from the observation that two nouns with a conjunction in between (‘X and/or Y’, cf. title) sound more rhythmical in a particular noun order. A perception experiment on German with real and pseudo nouns provides evidence that speech rhythm is not just created prosodically by means of high and low or long and short syllables, but that the phonetic properties of the vowel nuclei and of the consonantal onsets and offsets of the stressed syllables are separate segmental constituents of speech rhythm.

An acoustic analysis of a German dialogue corpus showed that the sound qualities and durations of fricatives, vocoids, and diphthongs at the ends of question and statement utterances varied systematically with the utterance-final intonation segments, which were high-rising in the questions and terminal-falling in the statements. The ways in which the variations relate to phenomena like sibilant/spectral pitch and intrinsic F0 suggest that they are meant to support the pitch course. Thus, they may be called segmental intonations.

Results of recent perception experiments revealed that the signalling of rising-falling F0 peak categories in German intonation involves an interplay of F0 and intensity. Moreover, combining identification judgements and reaction times suggests that the abruptness of the perceptual change between the categories is determined by the signal dynamics in the sense of the durations of the F0 peak movements and intensity transitions. This undermines the use of categorical perception as an instrument to detect phonological intonation categories.