The research project Voice as a Matter of Design: a Framework for Novel Vocal Imaginaries critically explores the affective and sociocultural implications for human-machine configuration in a time where voice has become a matter of design.

Voice is both a matter of expression and of being heard, and connects deeply to feelings of intimacy, identity, sociality and performativity. Voices are complex, variable and diverse; the minute nuances of tone of voice influence the affective tonality and interpretation of what and how we are trying to communicate in sociocultural context.

Current primarily Western synthetic voice designs often present us with ‘natural’ and heteronormative vocal stereotypes, that do not take vocal diversity into account. To facilitate a broader spectrum of vocal expressions , we explore vocal imaginaries that operate beyond normative vocal stereotypes and develop a framework for pluralistic synthetic voice design.

The research project is supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark – DFF-Research Project 1: 2022- 2025, led by associate professor, Jonas Fritsch and assistant professor, Stina Marie Hasse Jørgensen.