Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report

2024/05/15 by Yuto Ozaki, Adam Tierney, Peter Q. Pfordresher +72 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Computer Science · Neuroscience · #Music Technology and Sound Studies #Music and Audio Processing #Neuroscience and Music Perception

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adm9797

openalex publication_date 2024/05/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

Both music and language are found in all known human societies, yet no studies have compared similarities and differences between song, speech, and instrumental music on a global scale. In this Registered Report, we analyzed two global datasets: (i) 300 annotated audio recordings representing matched sets of traditional songs, recited lyrics, conversational speech, and instrumental melodies from our 75 coauthors speaking 55 languages; and (ii) 418 previously published adult-directed song and speech recordings from 209 individuals speaking 16 languages. Of our six preregistered predictions, five were strongly supported: Relative to speech, songs use (i) higher pitch, (ii) slower temporal rate, and (iii) more stable pitches, while both songs and speech used similar (iv) pitch interval size and (v) timbral brightness. Exploratory analyses suggest that features vary along a "musi-linguistic" continuum when including instrumental melodies and recited lyrics. Our study provides strong empirical evidence of cross-cultural regularities in music and speech.

Citations

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Cited by

• Higher Pitch, Slower Tempo, and Greater Stability in Singing than in Conversation among Mandarin speakers in Auckland: A Registered Report Replicating Ozaki et al. (2024)
• Participant and Musical Diversity in Music Psychology Research

Discussions

• Peer Community Journal example: doi.org/10.24072/pcj... Science Advances example: doi.org/10.1126/scia... (5/5) [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]

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• Higher Pitch, Slower Tempo, and Greater Stability in Singing than in Conversation among Mandarin speakers in Auckland: A Registered Report Replicating Ozaki et al. (2024)
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