Scientists have discovered that some individuals suddenly raise their voices during video calls as an automatic reaction when the video quality deteriorates, even if the audio quality is not affected. According to the British newspaper "The Guardian," researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands conducted a study with 40 participants who spoke to one another on the Zoom application for 40 minutes.
Throughout the calls, video quality was altered 10 times. The researchers tracked the participants’ gestures and vocal tones amid these changes. The team found that as video quality declined, participants automatically raised their voices and moved their arms and bodies in an attempt to compensate for the poor image quality.
Dr. James Trujillo, the lead author of the study, stated: "It is already known that humans use hand gestures in conversations to compensate for poor audio quality. However, the new study shows that we also speak louder when it becomes harder for others to see us. In other words, when the visual channel is disrupted, the auditory channel is adapted to compensate for that disruption."
He added, "Although speaking louder may not help in compensating for poor image quality, the fact that people do this automatically shows how important the integration of sound and image is for effective communication."
The study was published in the journal "Royal Society Open Science."
