Investigation of emotion classification using speech rhythm metrics

The processing of emotion during speech production has recently become a subject of increasing interest and attention for many languages. Such research has a wide range of applications in many different fields. The Arabic language, however, has thus far received little attention in this area, with the exception of a limited number of papers at some conferences. The current paper investigates the relationship between rhythm metrics Interval Measures (IM) (i.e., %V, ΔC, and ΔV) and speech emotions. The four emotions of `funny,' `sad,' `surprised,' and `question' are investigated in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The KACST Text To Speech Database (KTD) was used to perform the study. We found variations between the four emotion categories, especially for sadness and question. A major conclusion is that ΔC, and ΔV rhythm metrics can be used to classify emotions such as those investigated in this study.