| Sumario: | Purpose: This study examined the relationship between sensitivity to dynamic pitch (i.e., perception of intonation) and vocal emotion recognition in older adults under different listening conditions. We hypothesized that better dynamic pitch sensitivity would be positively associated with accurate recognition of vocal emotions, regardless of age or listening context. Method: We conducted two related studies. In Study 1, 32 listeners (ages 55-88 years) completed a pitch direction identification task assessing dynamic pitch sensitivity and a vocal emotion recognition task in quiet. In Study 2, 21 listeners (ages 56-88 years) from Study 1 completed the emotion recognition task in babble maskers presented from multiple locations around the listener at two signal-to-noise ratios. Results: In Study 1, results showed a significant positive relationship between dynamic pitch sensitivity and vocal emotion recognition. Study 2 found a similar relationship between dynamic pitch sensitivity and vocal emotion recognition as was observed in Study 1; however, this relationship did not reach statistical significance. Participants' age was found to negatively predict vocal emotion accuracy across both listening conditions. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the unique contribution of dynamic pitch sensitivity to individual differences in vocal emotion recognition in older listeners. These findings replicate and extend the literature on emotional communication in aging and suggest that dynamic pitch sensitivity may be one of the mechanisms supporting accurate emotion recognition in aging.
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