Verifying the primacy of voice fundamental frequency in social status accommodation

The senior author and colleagues have studied the vocal channel of the huma n voice beneath 0.5 kHz, best known as the fundamental frequency of phonati on (F-0) and have found it to transmit nonverbal information with social st atus importance for conversants. These previous studies (Gregory et al., 19 93, 1999; Gregory, 1994; Gregory and Webster, 1996) have together proposed a model for the social function of the F-0. The F-0 band is an important co mmunication arena for accommodating interactants' social status asymmetries , thus allowing social convergence and optimal format for ensuing verbal in teraction. Gregory et al. (1997) have indicated that acoustic filtration of the F-0 si gnal from voices of interacting, dyadic, conversation partners engaged in c ompleting an instrumental task, diminished the quality of their interaction as perceived by subjects who monitored unfiltered or acoustically complete versions of the conversations. It is apparent from previous studies that t he F-0 band plays an important role in transmission of social status and do minance information and that elimination of the F-0 leads to lessened perce ived quality of conversation. However, other nonverbal channels, such as th e visual, transmit accommodational social status and dominance information as well, and claims for primacy by the vocal channel in serving this functi on have not been sufficiently supported. Thus, in order to increase knowled ge about F-0 function, this article reports on tests of vocal channel prima cy in transmission of social status and dominance accommodation information . Though the dominant conventional wisdom asserts that the presence of all communications channels, i.e. face-to-face communication. promotes a higher quality of conversational interaction than a restriction to only one chann el: i.e. the audio, it is possible that a restricted channel can even enhan ce conversation quality in some forms of interaction. By experimentally man ipulating both vocal and visual channels in dyadic conversations wherein pa rtners an working to complete an instrumental task, the aim in this researc h is to better elucidate F-0 function in accommodating social status and do minance relations. and thereby better determining the role of F-0 in the en hancement of quality in task performance conversation.