Speech Analysis of the Empathic Statuses in Free Conversations

Communication is very important in medical care. Sometimes psychological factors even affect the speed of recovery. Therefore doctors and nurses need to acquire a high level of communication skills. In communication, the sound is a very important factor. This study aims at investigating into the characteristics of the speech expression of empathic statuses in conversations. The subjects in this study were 6 males (age: 21.5±0.8) and 6 females (age: 21.0±1.8). We use the phonetic parameters of MeanF0, MaxF0, MinF0, MeandB, MaxdB, MindB, and Speed. Calculate the difference of phonetic parameters in each empathic statuses from base conditions (attitude = neutral, emotional state = calm). We use the analysis of covariance and multiple comparisons to examine the difference between states. Based on the result we conclude that in the same attitude, the speech representation is different (changed) by emotion, in the same emotional state, speech expression is different (changed) by attitude, and in the same empathic state, the speech expression is different between men and women. Emotional state = joy has more variation width, and women is more capable of controlling the voice variation to represent the empathic statuses.