Fundamental frequency as an acoustic mirror of interpreters’ cognitive states

Abstract

The present study proposes the acoustic parameter of fundamental frequency (F0) as an alternative method for gauging interpreters’ cognitive load and fatigue during simultaneous interpreting (SI). The data collected from an English-Chinese SI experiment reported in Shao and Chai (2021) were re-analysed for the purposes of this study. Cognitive load was measured as the number of undelivered information chunks within the ear-voice span (EVS), whereas fatigue was assumed to increase with time. F0 variables were correlated with cognitive load within the EVS of selected sentences and with fatigue in one-minute segments distributed over the entire interpreting performance. The results show that cognitive constructs are associated in various ways with F0-related variables. Higher F0 peaks and a wider F0 range appear to be associated with higher cognitive load in a majority of interpreters. A higher mean F0 and, to a lesser extent, higher F0 peaks are associated with fatigue. The findings suggest that F0 could be used as a promising indicator of cognitive load and fatigue in SI.