Social Anxiety is Associated with a Negatively Distorted Perception of One's Own Voice

Abstract

According to cognitive models of social anxiety, negatively distorted self-images have a central role in the development and maintenance of social anxiety. In the present study, the relationship between social anxiety and the perception of one's own voice was investigated in a sample of 17 undergraduate students. The participants were asked to recount a story aloud in front of a tape recorder, and then to rate their voice characteristics on a Voice Evaluation Questionnaire. Independent observers (speech therapy students) were then asked to listen to the tape recordings and to rate the participants' voice characteristics on an equivalent version of the Voice Evaluation Questionnaire. Two hypotheses were contrasted: a skill deficits hypothesis and a cognitive distortion hypothesis. The results supported the cognitive distortion hypothesis. A high level of social performance anxiety was associated with an underestimation of one's voice qualities, compared with the independent observers. It is suggested that sound-tape feedback with cognitive preparation should be tested as a method for correcting the negatively distorted voice perception that is associated with social anxiety.