Our devices are quite smart. They know what we type and touch, what we say, and where we are; they even know how we look like, but they are quite clueless when it come to how we feel and what we mean.
This still-absent bond between humans and machines is also the chief theme of the Gartner’s 2013 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, suggesting “machines are becoming better at understanding humans and the environment” — for example, recognizing the emotion in a person’s voice.
“We all agree that human emotions are complicated, and arguably, the human voice might be the most personal and revealing emotional designator.”
But currently, this is still the next big revolution waiting to happen — the most important, non-existing interface out there. Or is it?
We all know that words alone don’t always tell the whole story. No doubt to truly understand we need to reach beyond the verbal. In many cases, it’s not what we say, but how we say it.
We know this intuitively, and studies in neuropsychology in the last 50 years have demonstrated that body language and vocal intonation have a bigger impact than your actual choice of words.
When you first meet someone, in less than 10 seconds after he or she starts talking, you’ve already formed an opinion about this person.
As reported by Carol Kinsey Gorman at Forbes, researchers from NYU found that it takes just 7 seconds to make a first impression. Experience the versatile Bryan Cranston as Walter White in AMC drama Breaking Bad — his voice alternates between the feeble, stomped-upon character of Walter White and a Meth kingpin persona known as “Heisenberg” — you instinctively know who to stay clear off.
“Emotions Analytics” is a new field that focuses on identifying and analyzing the full spectrum of human emotions including mood, attitude and emotional personality. Now imagine Emotions Analytics embedded inside mobile applications and devices — opening up a new dimension of human-machine interfaces. Picture machines (and their users) — finally — understanding who we are, how we feel and what we really mean. Can you envision a world, where people are also more in touch with their own emotional sides? We believe this world is practically just around the corner.
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