0575 – Why Voices Are Raised On Video Calls

2022.07.29 – 0575 – Why Voices Are Raised On Video Calls

Why voices are raised on video calls

Research has shown that when we cannot hear someone well because of noise, we speak louder, and make their gestures more noticeable.

Dr James Trujillo and colleagues at Radboud University Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, analysed video calls between 20 pairs of people[1]. For each pair, participants sat in separate rooms and chatted to each other in casual, unscripted conversation over a Zoom-like video call for 40 minutes.

Over the course of the call, the quality of the video was changed in 10 steps between excellent and completely blurred, and as the quality deteriorated further, participants moved their arms and bodies more and their volume increased by up to 5 decibels.

Trujillo said that to compensate for poorer video quality, people ‘exaggerate’ the form of their gestures in order to help their partner and although speaking louder probably doesn’t help, people still did it, saying “They know that the gestures being produced are vital to their communication, but their partner is going to have a harder time seeing them. So they increase the strength of the other signal – speech.”

So we in crease our volume and our gestures, to compensate for the crackle and buzz, the pixelation of the picture, the delay and copouts on the video and audio feed.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/13/voices-raised-video-calls-study-can-you-hear-me-now

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