Relationship Between Perception of Cuteness in Female Voices and Their Durations

摘要

The cuteness of female voices is especially important in Japanese pop culture. We investigate the relationship between the perception of cuteness in female voices and the voices' duration. In our hypothesis, the perception of cuteness should become more ambiguous and unstable as the duration becomes shorter. To confirm this hypothesis, we conducted listening tests where participants listened to female voices with various durations and rated their cuteness on scale of 1 to 5. The results show: (1) the instability of cuteness perception becomes higher as the duration is lower, (2) for voices rated "4" or higher when presented fully, their ambiguity of cuteness perception increases (i.e., the ratings become close to "3 (indeterminable)") when presented shortly, and (3) for voices rated "2" or lower when presented fully, the ambiguity of cuteness perception does not increase even if the durations are short.