The Sound of Emergency: The Role of Vocal Cues in Healthcare

The research project is based on the need to analyze and investigate decision bias in the healthcare field.

“I don’t know him, but he seems trustworthy, I’ll ask him.” But why him instead of someone else?

An unfamiliar face, or voice, provides the observer with important information (as a first impression) leading to assumptions about various personality characteristics (for example: reliability, competence, dominance, etc.). Even though the accuracy of these assumptions can be questioned, many studies—both in laboratories and in more realistic contexts (for example: political, legal, economic)—have demonstrated that they have a significant influence on decision-making and behavior (Todorov & Oh, 2021). In fact, these influences on behavior have also been documented in healthcare, in the conduct of workers and patients (Mattarozzi et al., 2017; Mattarozzi et al., 2020; Bagnis et al., 2020). One of the most critical places where this has been observed is in the Emergency Department, where health professionals need to make quick decisions based on limited information. The current study’s objective focuses on emergency calls (to 118), investigating whether, and to what extent, automatic inferential processes due to non-clinical factors (such as the effect of the caller’s voice on perceptions of reliability, dominance, emotionality, etc.) may significantly contribute to the 118 operator’s assessment of the emergency’s priority.

Collaborators:

- Alessandra De Palma, IRCCS Policlinico di Sant'Orsola

- Centrale Operativa 118 Emilia Est

- Alexander Todorov, University of Chicago Booth