International workshop:
sound affects
Voice, language and emotion
Monday 27th April 2026, Campus Biotech, Geneva
The way we say the words we say helps us convey the meanings we intend. The way words are ‘chunked’ into intonation phrases conveys information about grammatical structure and constituency relations, and within these phrases, differences in the relative amplitude, length and pitch of syllables help direct a listener’s attention to the most salient points of a message. But as well as conveying linguistic information, prosodic elements such as pitch, stress and intonation convey information about a speaker’s affective state. This one-day workshop focusses on the latter group of cases: on the way the voice is used to communicate affect and emotion, even – in some cases – betraying the emotional state of the speaker, perhaps against their wishes.
Our one-day workshop will feature talks and lectures by researchers from psychology and the humanities from around the world, exploring the various ways that vocal expression shapes affect and emotion. You can download the program here and the book of abstracts here.
The workshop will also include a short 'flash pitch' session, where participants can briefly share an idea, question, or work-in-progress related to voice, language, and emotion (1–3 minutes, no slides). Flash pitches are intended as informal conversation starters rather than full presentations, encouraging questions that will lead to discussions during the lunch break. Participation is optional and open to registered workshop participants (please indicate your interest during registration).
Travel & accommodation is provided for a small group of speakers selected in line with the SNSF’s policy to prioritise female and early-career-researchers. We thank the SNSF for making this possible.
If you would like to attend the workshop, please register before Friday 27th March, 2026 (of your local time zone). Registration is free but compulsory for organizational purposes.
For any questions, you can contact us at .
We look forward to meeting you in Geneva next April!
This workshop is organized by Prof. Didier Grandjean (University of Geneva) and Prof. Tim Wharton (University of Brighton) in collaboration with the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences (CISA) of the University of Geneva. The organizers thank the funding support from CISA, the Leverhulme Trust RPG-2025-198, and the SNSF.
IMPORTANT DATES:
| Paper submission deadline: | Wednesday 31st December 2025 |
| Communication of acceptance/rejection: | Friday 30th January 2026 |
| Registration deadline: | Friday 27th March 2026 |
| Workshop: | Monday 27th April 2026 |
Program
Download Program in PDF Download Abstracts in PDF
| Time | Session & Speakers |
|---|---|
| 08:45 – 09:15 | Welcome coffee |
| 09:15 – 10:00 | Keynote Speaker Didier Grandjean (University of Geneva) TBA |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Leonardo Ceravolo (University of Geneva) “Beyond mechanics: throat vibrations and the embodiment of emotion in voice signals” |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Monika Riegel (University of Geneva) “How does roughness of human screams affect episodic memory?” |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee break | |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Joe Reynolds (University of Brighton) “The Music of Speech: Relevance, Prosody and Melody” |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Omayma Rezk (Capital University, Cairo) “When Music ‘Tells Time’: Affective Meaning and Temporal Inference” |
| 12:30 – 12:45 | Flash pitches |
| 12:45 – 13:45 | Lunch break | |
| 13:45 – 14:30 | Keynote Speaker Marc Pell (McGill University, Montréal) TBA |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Maël Mauchand (University of Geneva) “Equivocality in vocality: Are emotions perceived like they are expressed?” |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Francesca Panzeri (University of Milan-Bicocca) “’That sounded rude. Were you being ironic?’ Emotions and ironic tone of voice” |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Fabrizio Gallai (IULM University), Pauline Madella (University of Bedfordshire) & Chara Vlachaki (University of Brighton) “Voicing Affect in Simultaneous Interpreting” |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee break | |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Nikos Vergis (Hellenic Open University, Patras) “Can affective prosody contribute to the derivation of pragmatic meanings? Evidence from masked speech” |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Chara Vlachaki (University of Brighton) “I listened to His Dark Materials and was transported to another world: Audiobooks as emotional portals” |
| 17:30 – 18:15 | Tim Wharton & Mengyang Qiu (University of Brighton) TBA |
| 18:15 – 18:30 | Closing comments |
