Acoustic and Facial Markers of Perceived Conversational Success in Spontaneous Speech

Thanushi Withanage; Elizabeth Redcay; Carol Espy-Wilson

cs.HCMar 3, 2026

Acoustic and Facial Markers of Perceived Conversational Success in Spontaneous Speech

Authors: Thanushi Withanage, Elizabeth Redcay, Carol Espy-Wilson

Organizations: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland College Park, MD, USA · Department of Psychology, University of Maryland College Park, MD, USA

Abstract

Individuals often align their speaking patterns with their interlocutors, a phenomenon linked to engagement and rapport. While well documented in task-oriented dialogues, less is known about entrainment in naturalistic, non-task and virtual settings. In this study, we analyze a large corpus of spontaneous dyadic Zoom conversations to examine how conversational dynamics relate to perceived interaction quality. We extract multimodal features encompassing turn-taking, pauses, facial movements, and acoustic measures such as pitch and intensity. Perceived conversational success was quantified via factor analysis of post-conversation ratings. Results demonstrate that entrainment reliably detected in spontaneous speech and correlates with higher perceived success. These findings identify key interactional markers of conversational quality and highlight opportunities for targeted interventions to foster more effective and engaging communication.

Figures & tables

Panel of Figure 1 — Figure 1: $f$ vs. PCS. (a) Turn duration (min, max, mean, total). (b) Pause duration (min, max, mean, total). (c) Turn count.

$f$	minimum $f$ $(U,z,p,q)$	maximum $f$ $(U,z,p,q)$	mean $f$ $(U,z,p,q)$	total $f$ $(U,z,p,q)$
Turn duration	2129, 2.922, 1.54e-03,	669, -3.037, 2.41e-03,	522, -1.401, 1.62e-01,	151, -5.365,8.32e-08,
	3.094e-03 ∗	3.220e-03 ∗	1.626e-01	3.330e-07 ∗
Pause duration	2272.5, 3.704, 1.52e-05,	1224, 2.845, 4.49e-03,	2080, 2.655, 7.98e-03,	1552, 1.802, 7.21e-02,
	6.0840e-05 ∗	8.9880e-03 ∗	1.0652e-02 ∗	7.2080e-02
F0	1073, -2.826, 4.70e-03,	1452, -0.762, 4.46e-01,	1213, -2.064, 3.90E-02,	-
	1.41e-02 ∗	4.46e-01	5.85e-02

Table 1: Turn and pause statistics significance (

p<0.05

is statistically significant ∗ )

FAU ID:Description	$t$	$p$	( $\mu_{L}$ , $\sigma_{L}$ )	( $\mu_{H}$ , $\sigma_{H}$ )
10: Upper Lip Raiser	-2.43	1.96e-02 ∗	(0.35, 0.17)	(0.42, 0.12)
14: Dimpler	-2.01	5.02e-02 ∗	(0.36, 0.14)	(0.41, 0.11)
07: Lid Tightener	-1.74	8.80e-02 ∗	(0.28, 0.17)	(0.33, 0.16)
12: Lip Corner Puller	-1.51	1.36e-01	(0.37, 0.20)	(0.42, 0.20)
06: Cheek Raiser	-1.28	2.08e-01	(0.35, 0.20)	(0.40, 0.19)
17: Chin Raiser	1.19	2.41e-01	(0.44, 0.11)	(0.42, 0.11)

Table 2: Welch’s

t

-test results for Fisher-transformed FAU correlations. Values show

t

p

, and mean correlation (

\mu

) with standard deviations (

\sigma

) for LSC and HSC. Bolded

p<0.1

∗

Articulatory Entrainment and Coordination Complexity in Spontaneous Autistic and Non-autistic Dialogue
Oct 2, 2026Thanushi Withanage, Carol Espy-Wilson, Elizabeth Redcay +2Autism Spectrum Disorder Speech Processing
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland College Park, USA · Department of Psychology, University of Maryland College Park, USA · Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, USA
Predicting Turn-Taking Outcomes in Multi-Party Conversation: Interpretable Modelling of Speech and Gaze Dynamics with Interpersonal Closeness
Aug 28, 2026Mark Dourado, Karim Haddad, Henrik G. Hassager +1Turn-Taking Prediction Turn-Taking in Dialogue
Research & Exploration, GN Store Nord, Ballerup, Denmark · Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark · Department of Engineering Technology and Didactics, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
TRACE: Temporal Relationship-Aware Conversational Entrainment Detection in Dyadic Speech
Jun 29, 2026Sathvik Manikantan Napa Ugandhar, Hao Zhang, Alison Gunzler +5Emotion Recognition in Conversations
Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, USA · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, USA · Amazon Research, UK +1

Oct 2, 2026J/K move · Enter open · S save

Articulatory Entrainment and Coordination Complexity in Spontaneous Autistic and Non-autistic Dialogue

Thanushi Withanage, Carol Espy-Wilson, Elizabeth Redcay, Desi Jones+1

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland College Park, USA · Department of Psychology, University of Maryland College Park, USA · Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, USA

Autism Spectrum Disorder Speech Processing

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Articulatory entrainment, the adaptation of vocal tract coordination to facilitate interaction remains underexplored in spontaneous dialogue, particularly among autistic speakers. Many prior studies have utilized task-based, phoneme-level analyses with invasive measurement techniques. Here, we introduce a speaker-independent framework to quantify articulatory entrainment in spontaneous dyadic conversations among autistic and non-autistic adults using acoustic-to-articulatory inversion and coordination complexity metrics. We examine temporal changes in articulatory coordination across interaction. Non-autistic dyads exhibit increasing coordination complexity and stronger entrainment over time, autistic dyads show moderate effects, and mixed dyads demonstrate the least alignment. Greater articulatory entrainment correlates with higher self-reported conversational success, indicating increase in coordination complexity as a marker of effective social interaction.

Abstract

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