Sighs Matters

From groans of anguish, to sighs of delight, we use nonverbal sounds to communicate feelings, creating cheerful “ah-ha” moments across language barriers. This interactive map shows thousands of 'vocal bursts', grouped by listeners into 24 different regions of emotion, revealing a surprising range of feelings hidden in our grunts and groans. Running a mouse pointer over the screen, you might hear a supportive “ahh”, a confused “huh?” or a chuckle of embarrassment. Most interesting, perhaps, are the sounds which blur these boundaries – surprise can be positive or negative, its tell-tale gasps close to both fear and awe. Many of these sounds may be subjective, with different listeners hearing different emotions based on past experiences. Similar maps could help doctors and researchers to investigate emotional perception in people with conditions like dementia and autism.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image courtesy of Alan Cowan
• Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in American Psychologist, December 2018