Perceptual (but not acoustic) features predict singing voice preferences

Area of Science:

• Auditory Perception
• Music Psychology
• Acoustic Phonetics

Background:

• Understanding the basis of aesthetic preferences is crucial in various fields.
• Singing voice preference research often focuses on objective acoustic qualities.
• Previous studies have explored listener responses to vocal characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the extent to which singing voice preferences can be predicted by objective and perceptual features.
• To investigate the relationship between acoustic/MIR features, perceptual attributes, and listener liking.
• To explore the role of individual differences in singing voice perception and preference.

Main Methods:

• Participants rated singing voice excerpts on liking and 10 perceptual attributes.
• Acoustic and Music Information Retrieval (MIR) features were extracted from the stimuli.
• Regression models were used to predict liking ratings from perceptual and acoustic/MIR features.

Main Results:

• Mean liking ratings showed high correlation across different participant groups and experimental settings.
• Acoustic and MIR features explained minimal variance in liking ratings.
• Perceptual features of the singing voices predicted approximately 43% of the variance in liking.

Conclusions:

• Singing voice preferences are primarily grounded in the perceptual interpretation of vocal features, not just their acoustic properties.
• Individual differences in perception and preference are substantial.
• The subjective experience of listening is key to understanding musical taste in singing voices.