平复机器人的语调？探究机器人语音语调对儿童压力水平的影响
Calming Robot Pitches? Exploring the Influence of Robot Voice Pitch on Children's Stress Levels
- Utrecht University（乌得勒支大学）
- Eindhoven University of Technology（埃因霍温理工大学）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。
AI总结：
该研究以27名8-12岁荷兰儿童为对象，探究Zenbo Junior II机器人的语音语调对儿童压力的影响，发现人类交流中低语调减压的效应未直接适用于儿童-机器人交互，为机器人语音设计提供了方向。
AI中文摘要：
本研究探究在机器人引导的游戏过程中，机器人语音语调的变化是否会影响儿童的压力水平。尽管在人类交流中，较低的语调已被证实有助于压力调节，但目前尚不清楚这种效应是否能推广到儿童与机器人交互中的合成语音。27名年龄在8至12岁的荷兰儿童被随机分配，分别使用语调较低或较高的Zenbo Junior II机器人进行交互。交互过程包括介绍环节和计时乐高搭建游戏。采用改编版CAM-S测量的压力水平在游戏过程中有所上升，证实了该任务具有诱发压力的特性。不同语调条件之间未出现显著差异。这些发现表明，较低语调减轻压力的益处可能无法直接转化为儿童与机器人的交互场景。可能的解释包括：儿童对情绪语调的敏感性仍在发展、机器人的语音与外观不匹配，或是使用固定的语调变化听起来不自然，因为真实语音会在多个维度上动态变化。未来研究若探究韵律线索的组合（而非仅语调），可能会提供更多见解，并为机器人语音设计提供信息，以支持儿童进行有效的压力调节。
英文摘要：
This study examined whether variations in robot speech pitch influence children's stress levels during a robot-guided game. Although lower-pitched voices have been shown to facilitate stress regulation in human communication, it remains unclear whether this effect generalizes to synthetic voices in child-robot interactions. Twenty-seven Dutch children aged 8-12 years were randomly assigned to interact with a Zenbo Junior II robot using either a lower-pitched or a higher-pitched voice. The interaction consisted of an introduction followed by a timed LEGO-building game. Stress levels, measured with an adapted version of CAM-S, increased during the game, confirming the stress-inducing nature of the task. No differences emerged between pitch conditions. These findings suggest that the benefits of lower pitch in reducing stress may not directly translate to child-robot interactions. Possible explanations include children's developing sensitivity to emotional tone, mismatches between the robot's voice and appearance, or the use of fixed pitch changes that sound unnatural, since real speech varies dynamically across multiple dimensions. Future research examining combinations of prosodic cues (beyond pitch alone) could provide further insights and help inform robot voice design for effective stress regulation support for children.
