Definition
The psychoacoustic terms “loudness” or “volume” are primarily influenced by the amplitude vibration (or intensity) of a sound wave. Measured in decibels, these terms assess power per unit of area in a vocalization.
Introduction
Human speech is a complex, multidimensional signal used by listeners to make a variety of fitness-relevant decisions. Evolutionary signaling theory predicts that listeners have been selected to attend to those acoustic signals that reveal (on average) honest or accurate information about the signaler (Searcy and Nowicki 2005). Evolutionary psychologists have primarily focused on a single component of speech – fundamental frequency (i.e., the primary determinant of perceived pitch) – and its information value in intrasexual competitive contexts. For instance, a number of studies have shown that lower fundamental frequency increases...
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Hodges-Simeon, C.R., Steinhilber, K.M. (2016). Speech Volume. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1413-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1413-1
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