Beyond Words: Charisma, Multimodal Communication, and the Role of Speech Technology

Abstract

Charismatic speech refers to the ability to attract attention and make other people “buy” ones ideas or products, or gain followers without exercising formal authority. Charismatic speakers have a "wow effect" that makes them more effective in various domains, such as brainstorming, teaching, leading, fundraising, marketing, elections, and career advancement. The past decades of empirical research sharpened our understanding of speaker charisma, for example, by showing, that charisma is a learnable signaling system and, moreover, a signaling system that is not only – and perhaps not even primarily – determined by what speakers say with words. Phonetic features seem to play a pivotal role.

My presentation provides a brief overview of how phonetic features are linked to perceived speaker charisma and, based on that, summarizes the efforts of my team and me in testing, building, and evaluating exercises and technologies like sensor helmets and belts, VR apps, and acoustic scoring techniques that can help people learn charismatic speaking skills and advance our understanding of the nonverbal ingredients of perceived speaker charisma. The latter, following modern phonetic research, goes beyond the pure acoustic speech signal and also takes into account multimodal aspects of posture, gestures and foot movements.

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Zoom link: write to zygis@leibniz-zas.de