Uncanny Speech - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 223

zombie (Zombie 1) from the computer game
Alone in the Dark (Atari Interactive, Inc, 2009)
and (13) a human.
Table 1 shows the median ratings for a char-
acter's strangeness and for the speech qualities:
whether the speech seemed (a) slow, (b) monotone,
(c) of the wrong intonation, (d) if the speech did not
appear to belong to a character, or (e) none of the
above. Characters with the same median value for
strangeness were grouped together and the median
values for speech qualities were then calculated for
those characters or groups. (Median values were
used to indicate a central tendency for results, to
help establish a clear overall picture of the vital
relationships over multiple qualities of speech.)
The results implied that, slowness of speech, an
incorrect intonation, and pitch and how monotone
the voice sounded increased uncanniness.
A strong indirect relationship was identified
between individual ratings for the variables “the
speech intonation sounds incorrect” and “the voice
belongs to the character”. This implies that if the
intonation for a character's voice is in keeping
with what the viewer may have expected, this
characteristic may contribute to the overall believ-
ability for that character. The two zombies the
Witch and the Tank, from the computer games
Left 4 Dead (Valve, 2008), were regarded as the
most uncanny with a median strangeness rating

of just 2 (see Table 1). However it seems the
unintelligible hisses and snarls from the Tank
were regarded as sounds that this character was
likely to make based on the Tank's appearance
and how he behaved. Likewise the inhuman cries
and screeches from the Witch matched her seem-
ingly pathetic and wretched appearance. Such
sounds enhanced the believability of these char-
acters as they were in keeping with their nonhu-
man-like appearance.
The findings from the UM study provide
empirical evidence to support the claims made
by MacDorman (as quoted in Gouskos, 2006)
that Mary Smith's speech was one of the main
contributing factors as to why she was perceived
as uncanny. Twenty percent of participants ob-
served a lack of correct pitch and intonation for
Mary Smith's speech. This implies that the pitch
and tone for her voice may not have matched the
facial expression exhibited by this character. The
emotive qualities of speech may have seemed ei-
ther inappropriate or out of context with how this
character appeared to look and behave. The facial
expression may not have matched nor accurately
conveyed the emotive qualities of her voice. At-
tributes such as these raised doubts as to whether
the voice actually belonged to this character or
not, thus increasing the sense of perceived eeri-
ness for this character.

Table 1. Median ratings for speech qualities for those characters or groups with the same median strange-
ness value. (Tinwell & Grimshaw, 2010). Note. Judgements for strangeness were made on 9-point scales
(1 = very strange, 9 = very familiar)

Median Strangeness for
Character or Group

Wrong
intonation

Slow Monotone Belongs None

The Tank, The Witch, ( Mdn = 2) 10 9.5 23.5 56.5 16.5

The Infected, The Smoker, Zombie 1, Chatbot,
(Mdn = 3)

24 21.5 40 42 8.5

Mary Smith, ( Mdn = 4) 8 3 20 20 8

The Warrior, Alex Shepherd, ( Mdn = 6) 14 17 17 62.5 7.5

Louis, Francis, (Mdn = 7) 2.5 3.5 6.5 79.5 4.5

Emily, (Mdn = 8) 2 0 2 87 6

Human, (Mdn = 9) 1 15 4 72 6