Vocal Stress Diary: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Association of Everyday Work Stressors on Human Voice Features

The human voice conveys a large range of information about the speaker. Especially prevalent is the assumption stress affects voice features, which is combined with the hope that voice data constitute easy-to-capture measures of everyday human stress levels and thus serve as an early warning signal of stress-related health consequences. However, previous research has been restricted to laboratory studies, artificial tasks, and short-term or extreme stressors meaning it remains unclear whether everyday work stressors are also associated with voice features. As such, we conducted a diary study over the course of one week (Sunday until Sunday), where participants (111 working individuals) provided voice messages and self-report data on daily work stressors. Results show that work stressors were associated with voice features such as speech rate and voice intensity. We discuss research, practical, and ethical implications with regard to the use of the human voice as indicator of psychological states.