Expansion of vowel space following alcohol intoxication

Alcohol intoxication is characterized by hypermetric movements in fine motor skills, but it remains unknown whether hypermetric movements manifest in speech following alcohol intoxication. Vowel space areas were compared across 162 speakers (85 male, 77 female) before and after alcohol intoxication using an unsupervised method based on cluster center detection. We observed that vowel space area expanded following intoxication, however this effect was only substantial across male participants (~10%), while only a moderate expansion was observed for female participants (~2%). These results support recent observations of vowel space expansion following alcohol intoxication, but further research is necessary to identify the cause of sex-specific differences observed.