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The acoustic features of human laughter
J A Bachorowski1, M J Smoski, M J Owren
1Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, USA. j.a.bachorowski@vanderbilt.edu
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|September 27, 2001
Summary
Laughter acoustics are complex and variable, not stereotyped as previously thought. Acoustic cues, particularly formant filtering, reveal laugher sex and individual identity.
Area of Science:
- Acoustic phonetics
- Human vocalizations
- Bioacoustics
Background:
- Limited understanding of laughter's acoustic properties.
- Previous research often emphasized stereotypy in laughter acoustics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze acoustic features of naturally produced laughter.
- To investigate variability and complexity in laughter acoustics.
- To identify acoustic correlates of sex and individual identity in laughter.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 1024 laugh bouts from 97 young adults.
- Focus on temporal features, production modes, source/filter effects, and indexical cues.
- Examination of fundamental frequency, articulation, and formant filtering.
Main Results:
- Laughter acoustics are highly variable and complex, contrary to prior beliefs.
- Significant diversity in laughter production modes observed.
- Fundamental frequency characteristics showed remarkable variability.
- Lack of supralaryngeal filtering effects related to articulation.
- Formant-related filtering effects are crucial for identifying sex and individual identity.
Conclusions:
- Laughter is a complex vocal signal with significant acoustic variability.
- Acoustic analysis provides insights into individual characteristics beyond stereotyped features.
- Formant filtering plays a key role in indexical cues within laughter.
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