Human voice as mood indicator after yoga practice

Kolb Meike, Frawick Tim

Poster

Zusammenfassung

Human voice as mood indicator after yoga practise Meike Kolb & Tim Farwick, Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Münster, Germany This pilot-study aims to explore the mood-parameters of human voice after yoga practise. The voice of each person is singular and not variable between people, similar to varying moods (Sendlmeier, 2012). Based on categorized voice-signal-parameters with emotional states of the human voice (Paeschke, 2003) it is possible to detect positive or negative mood in the voice. Various researches showed a positive mood after practicing sport (Schwerdtfeger, 2015). In the present study, we pioneer the employment of voice-signal-based mood detection after yoga practice. We conducted pre-post measurements at 16 practise-times for 60 minutes (M = 31.0 years, SD = 13.7 years; N = 20, 40% male; 18-61 years old; advanced yoga practitioners, 5 practise-times each yoga practitioner, N = 200 voice recordings). Each time, three equal phrases (fundamental tone, reading a story, narration) were recorded by using an app (Easy Voice Recorder). The prosodic features in human voice were analysed with a phonetic-software (www.praat.org). Additionally, a German established mood questionnaire ASTS (Dalbert, 1992; α = 0.83 to 0.94; a short German version of POMS) was used. The results indicate that positive mood after yoga is not sufficiently reflected in the voice signals so as to allow using voice-signals as a mood indicator. There is no significant influence on the prosodic features like the pitch (male, 90-130 Hz: t (7) = 0.305, p = 0.769; female, 165-230 Hz: t (11) = -1.145, p = 0.277) and the loudness (male, t (7) = 0.99, p = 0.924; female, t (11) = -0.409, p = 0.690), while at the same time the ASTS-questionnaire shows a highly significant difference in pre-post relations (t (22) = -4.198, p < 0.001). Weak effects in the voice-based mood parameters after yoga practice request further examinations on the voice as a (mood) indicator in sports.

Details zur Publikation

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
Sprache, in der die Publikation verfasst ist: Englisch