By Pavlo Shopin

To make sense of human voices， we rely on senses beyond hearing. The songs of Taylor Swift can be sweet and soft. Lady Gagas singing feels dark. Johnny Cash2s voice was low and rough. Thats because voice is not just sound： it can be seen and heard， but also tasted and touched. The sound we hear in voice creates “multisensory images”—drawing in perceptions from many senses， not just one.3

The phenomenon of multisensory perception can help us to understand why we assign metaphorical properties of softness， roughness or depth to voice.4 Think of a politician whose voice is flat. Flatness is a multisensory concept because it is both tactile5 and visual. We can recognise flat surfaces by either touching or seeing them. These sensory impressions inform us about the acoustic characteristics of voice， implying that it does not have variation in tone.6 Notably， flatness can also convey lack of sympathy and emotion on the part of the speaker.

Softness is another common way to present the auditory7 perception of sound. Like flatness， it can describe not only the sound quality but also the speakers emotional state. And what about sharpness， a descriptor that might relate to both tactile and visual experience？ Calling a voice sharp could be a metaphor for an aggressive， nasty8 speaker—or a means of describing acoustic， vocal sounds.

Multisensory images allow us to identify and deal with things that can harm or benefit us. A falling mortar shell， a jumping tiger or a skidding car are not just auditory or visual images：9 they are perceived as multisensory images and can be conceived of as potential life threats. In cognitive psychology， it is generally recognised that， as Vanessa Harrar of the University of Oxford puts it， “integrating information from individual senses increases the chance of survival by reducing the variability in the incoming signals， thus allowing us to respond more rapidly”.10 In fact， notes Harrar， when the components of the multisensory signals are simultaneous，11 our reaction time is fastest of all.

The psychologist Charles Spence at the University of Oxford has done extensive research on how humans integrate sensory information with respect to culinary experience，12 finding that vision and hearing can change how food tastes. One study found that desserts tasted sweeter on a white plate than a black plate. Another study found that heavy cutlery13 made food taste better.

The multisensory perceptions that result in metaphors help us to think about relatively abstract things with more familiar ideas. In Metaphors We Live By （2003）， the linguist George Lakoff and the philosopher Mark Johnson， who devised “conceptual metaphor theory”， say that humans use concrete ideas to understand abstract phenomena.14 Linguistic and psychological research supports the idea that metaphors empower our abstract thought about time， money， morality， death and even orgasm.15 Time， for example， is an abstract idea， and we tend to understand it through the more concreteseeming16 experience of space： time can flow， and it can stand still. Our past is better left behind， because our future lies ahead.

Indifference or hostility are complex social concepts that can be conveyed through the experience of feeling cold.17 Coldness is tangible and vividly communicates the message. If someones voice is described as cold， people associate this sensory image with the emotional state of the speaker. In a similar vein18， the acoustic properties of voice can be associated with other sensory experiences. A sharp voice can refer to both vision and the sense of touch.

Depicting how something “feels” is one of the most common ways we use metaphors， especially when describing voices. That makes enormous sense because touch is a much earlier evolutionary development than speech， and is vital in daily life. In Consciousness and the World （2000）， the Australian philosopher Brian OShaughnessy considered touch the primordial sense because “it is scarcely to be distinguished from the having of a body that can act in physical space”.19 And the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar at the University of Oxford argues that touch plays a significant role in social bonding in primates20 （including humans）. The integrative biologist Steven Phelps at the University of Texas draws on Dunbars research to argue that the use of touch for strengthening social relationships among primates appears to be 30 million years old.

Voice as a medium for language is a recent development in evolutionary terms， but it has become a crucial part of our social interactions. And it does not stand alone. We rely on a panoply of sensory experiences to navigate the medium of sound.21 The multisensory ensemble22 helps us to discuss a speakers emotions and feelings through the conveyance of voice， creating interior meaning through metaphor. Description of touch and other senses can illuminate23 voices deep meaning and its acoustic properties at once. Next time you hear a soft voice， reflect on the engaging feeling of softness that makes your experience so much more meaningful.24

1. multisensory： 多種感覺并用的。

2. Johnny Cash： 約翰尼·卡什（1932—2003），美國著名創(chuàng)作型鄉(xiāng)村音樂歌手，多次獲得格萊美獎。

3. draw in： 吸收；perception： 感知，感覺。

4. assign： 給予；metaphorical： 含比喻意義的；property： 特性，特質(zhì)。

5. tactile： 觸覺的，可以感觸到的。

6. 這些感官印象讓我們了解了這種嗓音的聲音特征，表示其在音調(diào)上缺乏變化。acoustic： 聽覺的，聲音的。

7. auditory： 聽覺的，耳朵的。

8. nasty： 惡狠狠的，冒犯人的。

9. mortar shell： 迫擊炮；skidding： 打滑的。

10. 牛津大學的瓦妮莎·哈爾教授指出，認知心理學中一個普遍認同的觀點是，“如果將不同感官感受到的信息綜合到一起，就可以提高生存的機會，因為這實際上減少了輸入信號的多樣性，從而讓我們更迅速地作出反應(yīng)?！?/p>

11. component： 組成部分；simultaneous：同時發(fā)生的。

12. with respect to： 和……有關(guān)的；culinary： 烹飪的。

13. cutlery： 餐具。

14. Metaphors We Live By ：《我們賴以生存的隱喻》，由美國認知語言學家喬治·萊考夫與心理學家馬克·約翰遜合著，書中指出人們運用具體的概念來理解抽象的現(xiàn)象；devise： 想出，設(shè)計。

15. empower： 使能夠；morality： 道德，品行；orgasm： 性高潮。

16. concrete-seeming： 看起來具體的。

17. indifference： 冷漠；hostility： 不友善，敵意。

18. in a similar vein： 同樣，與此相同。

19. 在《意識與世界》一書中，澳大利亞哲學家布萊恩·奧肖納西認為，“接觸”是一種原始的感覺，因為“它幾乎無法和人的身體在物理空間的行動區(qū)別開來?！眕rimordial： 原始的。

20. a primate： 靈長類動物。

21. a panoply of： 多種不同的；navigate： 有效處理。

22. ensemble： 綜合體，協(xié)調(diào)搭配起來的一整套事物。

23. illuminate： 闡明，解釋。

24. reflect on： 回憶，思考；engaging：動人的，令人愉快的。