Sound and Emotion

The focus of Erkin Asutay and Daniel Västfjäll’s chapter is the relationship between sound and emotion. Evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies is presented that documents how sound can evoke emotions and how emotional processes affect sound perception. This leads to a discussion of different forms of emotional responses to auditory stimuli, such as responses to vocal signals, responses to environmental sounds, and responses to music. The authors view the auditory system as an adaptive network that governs both how auditory stimuli influence emotional reactions and how the affective significance of sound influences auditory attention. In conclusion, they argue that affective experience is integral to auditory perception.