NCVS Insights – Science that Resonates
My Path Through the Intersection Between Voice and Psychology
January 28, 2026
Volume 4, Issue 1 – January 2026
By Dr. Miriam van Mersbergen
Intersections can be dangerous. The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2025) estimates that nearly half of all traffic accidents happen where roads meet – a cautionary reminder for anyone crossing paths, whether on actual roads, or in lines of research.
Fortunately, unlike traffic patterns, the intersection between two research lines do not result in dire consequences for those involved. In fact, intersections in research lines can become turning points – places to change course, glimpse the edges of other work, and pause to consider where to go next. This article will discuss the intersection between two lines of research: voice science and psychophysiology.
The discipline of psychophysiology is in itself an intersection between anatomy, physiology, and the study of human behavior (J. T. Cacioppo et al., 2016, pp 4-5). It coopts measures of physiology to study how humans act and think. It views the body through physiological measures to see brain processes that are difficult to directly measure. Psychophysiology studies abstract constructs such as stress, interoception, emotion, language, and attention, to name a few. By observing the cardiovascular, respiratory, somatic, and gastrointestinal system changes during psychological conditions, insights into how the body reflects brain processes inform the relationships between mind and body. There are numerous measures to accomplish these tasks such as electrocardiography, electroencephalography, electrodermal responses, electromyography, and respiratory measures of rate, volume, and oxygen saturation. For example, psychophysiologists have found that increases in tonic electrical activity in muscles of facial expression, the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major, reflect negative and positive mood, respectively (Land et al., 1993). They have found that heart rate variability is reduced in infants under stress (Weiss et al., 2024). Thus, physiological measures can track psychological constructs that are covert and subconscious. What is suspiciously hidden from the fleet of physiological measures employed by psychophysiologists are measures of the voice.
Much of my research integrating voice and psychology has focused on how psychological processes affect voice functioning. In other words, how brain processes affects the voice. We know that mood states can affect glottal closure as measured by electroglottography contact quotient (van Mersbergen & Delany, 2014) and that increased arousal amplifies this effect (van Mersbergen et al., 2017). Acoustic measures such as relative fundamental frequency are also modulated by emotion states (van Mersbergen & Lanza, 2019). Cognitive processes also influence acoustic measures such as intensity (van Mersbergen & Payne, 2021) and cepstral peak prominence (MacPherson et al., 2017). Social stressors can also affect the muscular activity of the vocal folds (Helou et al., 2013, 2018). This research revealed links between our psychological processes and how we phonate, and provides evidence that mental health and well-being can influence vocal health and well-being. The voice science community can construct emerging evidence to develop deeper understandings of how various psychological concepts influence voicing.
However, the relationship between voice and psychology is bi-directional and can serve a wider scientific audience; specifically the field of psychophysiology. It is possible that measures of vocal functioning can be used to measure the inner workings of the mind because vocal function employs and interacts with many physiological systems (Scherer, 1989). Additionally, measures of voice functioning can serve as composite measures, integrating respiratory and somatic systems (Van Puyvelde et al., 2018) . One such area employing vocal measures to peer into mental processes is lie detection, where voice measures were integrated with other physiological systems to attempt to reflect episodes of deception in the voice (Brenner et al., 1979; Cutbow et al., 1972; Gamer et al., 2006). Another such area is stress and mental load where acoustic data are used to track physical, emotional, and mental stress (Finke et al., 2021; Johannes et al., 2007; Kappen et al., 2022; Schneider et al., 2006).
A challenge in studying voice from a psychophysiological perspective is that it can be confused with research that views the voice from different psychological spaces. Much of the psychological research that includes voice, studies how individuals recognize emotions via vocal output.. A prominent researcher in this field, Klauss Scherer, has led the field in how the voice can signal emotional states in others and what aspects of the voice carry such signals (Banse & Scherer, 1996; Patel et al., 2011; Scherer, 1989, 2003; Sundberg et al., 2011). Other researchers study how vocal perception signals a sense of self as compared to others (Bickford et al., 2013; Broekner et al., 1998; Eckland et al., 2019; Hughes & Harrison, 2013) or how others perceive one’s voice (Belin et al., 2011; Guldner et al., 2020; McGettigan, 2015; Scott & McGettigan, 2016.) Some researchers study more esoteric aspects of the voice, such as whether auditory hallucinations in individuals with schizophrenia hear those voices as their own or as others (Baumeister et al., 2017). Finally, in many lines of research the term voice can be used as an allegory to advocacy or perspective (Gabbay & Stern, 2012).
From the psychophysiological perspective, voice measures have the potential to provide insights into the mind that involve complex physiological interactions. Interest in employing voice measures to study stress, emotions, anxiety disorders, threat response, and cognitive load has increased, particularly with researchers employing machine learning technologies. For a comprehensive review of this research, I would suggest the article by Schewski and colleagues (2025) that describes a number of acoustic parameters (e.g., Fo or L/H ratio) that vary with cognition, emotion, and stress. While recent research has made valuable progress in linking vocal features to psychophysiological states such as acute stress, some methodological choices reflect a limited engagement with principles from voice science. For example, jitter and shimmer have occasionally been applied to connected speech, although these measures are not designed for such material, which may explain the mixed results reported. As this area of research develops, closer collaboration with voice scientists could help refine methodological approaches.
Given the growing interest in using the voice as a window into the mind, voice scientists are uniquely positioned to inform the psychophysiological discipline. At this intersection, the journey in discovering the relationship between the mind and the voice has just begun and many miles lay ahead. But, this journey is open to everyone.
References
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Dr. Miriam van Mersbergen
Dr. Miriam van Mersbergen is Associate Professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis where she teaches Anatomy & Physiology or the Speech Mechanism, Voice Disorders, and Dysphagia. She began her academic career studying music and communication arts at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After a brief career in music she returned to academia and studied speech language pathology and vocology at The University of Iowa. She worked as a voice therapist in Chicago and Milwaukee before commencing doctoral studies in speech language hearing sciences and psychology at the University of Minnesota. In her current position at the University of Memphis, she is the director of the Voice, Emotion, & Cognition Laboratory where her research investigates emotional and cognitive influences on voice production. She integrates electroencephalographic, psychophysiological, acoustic, and aerodynamic measures to capture mind, body, voice interactions. She maintains an active clinical career specializing in voice, breathing, and cough disorders and continually yearns for more time to pursue her singing career.
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