The results of a new study from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) showed that when people listened to their altered voices, their emotional state changed in accordance with a certain voice. In other words, when people listened to their happy voices they became more cheerful; the sad voices, meanwhile, made them gloomy.
Researchers came up with a digital audio device that can change the emotional tone of people's voices, making them sound sad, neutral or happy.
When participants were asked if they could tell that their voices had been altered, the participants couldn't tell.
But the interesting thing was that when researchers asked participants how they felt, 85 percent of them answered the way that aligned how their voices had been modified by the audio machine.
"It's really a striking result that participants ended up updating their emotional state in response to whether their own voices were made to sound happy, sad or anxious," Jean-Julien Aucouturier, the lead author of the research paper, said, according to the New Scientist magazine.
So, it's a two-street then. Our voice plays an active role in shaping our emotions and thoughts. That's why we need to smile more and speak with a happier voice to alter our mood and make us feel happier.
Although currently, very little is known about the mechanisms behind the production of vocal emotions, the findings now open new opportunities in psychology and mental health therapy, according to the science news website EurekAlert.