Pitch Variations to Stimulate your Memory. How Pitch Variations can Improve Effectiveness, and Memory of an Audio Message

Abstract

This study explores the effect of different intonation strategies applied to audio commercials on the cognitive processing of the listener. To test this, a within-subjects experiment was conducted in which participants listened to 16 radio ads that had been created with different models of intonation designed to vary the announcer’s pitch range. Dependent variables were self-reported effectiveness and adequacy, and memory (immediate recall and recognition). As expected, different pitch strategies modified the cognitive processing of the ads by the listeners. Results showed that radio ads presented by announcers whose pitch transitioned from high frequency to low achieved better effectiveness, adequacy, and memory accuracy than the ads with no pitch variations and variations from low to high pitch.

Full text

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Pitch&varia*ons&to&improve&effec*veness&and&memory&
E.!Rodero,!Pompeu!Fabra!University!and!Indiana!University!(ICR)!
Method&
Models& Recogni*on&
Background&
!!
The!processing!of!the!mediated!messages!and!parAcularly!
speech! is! one! of! the! most! important! topics! in! media,!
cogniAve!psychology,!and!linguisAcs.!
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One!of!the!most!important!structural!features!in!radio!to!
sAmulate! aDenAon! is! prosody.!Some! authors! have!
demonstrated!that!prosody,!and!especially!intonaAon!is!a!
determining! factor! for! the! cogniAve! processing! of!
messages.!
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ObjeAve:!to!determine!how!different!pitch!level!variaAons!
in!radio!commercials!affect!the!levels!of!selfJpercepAon!of!
effecAveness,! adequacy,! immediate! recall,! and!
recogniAon!of!the!listener!
The!best!models!were!those!with!pitch!variaAons:!HighJLow!
pitch!followed!by!LowJHigh!pitch.!
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Conclusions&
1.! Pitch! variaAons! influenced! self! percepAon! of!
effecAveness!and!adequacy!as!well!as!recogniAon.!
2.!!The!HIGHJLOW!PITCH!model!obtained!the!best!results!
3.! This! model! exploits! pitch! level! contrasts! across!
InformaAon!Structure!consAtuents=disAncAve!funcAon!
4.! These! pitch! level! contrasts! helped! listeners! to! improve!
aDenAon!and!arousal=contrasAve!funcAon!
Spain&
Pitch!level!variaAons!!
1. Low!pitch!
2. HighJlow!pitch!
3. LowJhigh!pitch!
4. High!pitch!
Prosody&strategies&to&improve&the&a<en*on&and&recall&of&a&listener&exposed&to&an&auditory&s*mulus!
Total:!16!radio!ads!
EffecAveness!and!
adequacy!
CogniAve!processing!
Radio!ads!
Recall!
RecogniAon!
Time (s)
05.498
Pitch (Hz)
0
350
Time (s)
04.061
Pitch (Hz)
0
350
Time (s)
05.263
Pitch (Hz)
0
350
Time (s)
03.695
Pitch (Hz)
0
350
&Effec*veness&and&Adequacy&
The!best!delivered!model!was!HighJLow!Pitch!VariaAon!
!
Low pitch High pitch
High-low pitch Low-high pitch
Supported by: Marie Curie action