Voice Tremors Reveal Nervousness

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When we experience stress, nervousness or unease our muscles reflectively tense.  This can be seen in body language.  One muscle that tenses is the vocal cord.  A tense vocal cord changes the way sound emanates and creates micro tremors, or tiny vibrations. Speech Craft Analytics measures micro tremors at the 22-millisecond level. 

When a speaker is especially tense the mouth becomes dry.  The speaker might swallow, clear their throat or cough.  These actions meant moisten the mouth, also create micro tremors.  In the recording below, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell speaking at the Foreign Bankers Association in Amsterdam on May 14, 2024, exhibits pronounced tremors relative to his baseline, when speaking about 'restrictive' monetary policy.  In sentence 3 he even clears his throat immediately following saying the word 'restrictive'.

Chair Powell is clearly uneasy about whether policy is restrictive enough to reduce inflation.