Close to 4,000 sounds were collected in the Netherlands. For a week, three times a day, participants reported where they were, who they were with, how the situation felt, which sounds they had heard in the past half hour, and how acceptable most people would find those sounds in that setting. Sounds were rated most acceptable at home, at social venues and among close friends and family, and less acceptable at work or school, in public places and among colleagues or strangers. How a situation felt mattered even more than its location: sounds were rated less acceptable the more formal a situation felt and the clearer the power differences in it, and more acceptable the more positive and social it felt. How negative or unusual a situation felt made no difference.

Each sounds followed its own pattern

Each sound also followed its own pattern. Laughter was the most acceptable sound overall and was rated most acceptable among close friends, in line with its role as a bonding signal; it was also the only sound that became less acceptable when there was a clear power difference between the people present. Screams were among the least acceptable sounds, except at social venues, among close friends and in energetic, positive settings, consistent with screams expressing excitement as well as alarm. Sighs were rated most acceptable when a person was alone, fitting their role in regulating breathing and stress, yet they were reported most often at work or school and among colleagues, where they were rated less acceptable. Whether the same norms apply in other cultures is the next question in the Veni project of Kamiloglu, which will compare vocal display rules across countries.

Full article

• Roza G. Kamiloğlu; Vocal display rules in everyday life: when is it appropriate to laugh, sigh or scream?. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 24 September 2026; 381 (1959): 20250151. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2025.0151