This experiment aimed to study the relationship between vocalizations and affective information of deaf persons. We prepared short scenarios of three emotional settings, namely sorrow, joy and anger. Three female deaf persons (age 49-55) and three female hearing persons (age 29-34) participated in this study. The deaf persons played the scenarios through sign language. The vocalizations produced during the play were recorded. The hearing persons read the same scenarios and their speech was

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... ded. Excerpted portions of the recordings were analyzed acoustically. Parameters used were initial FO (fundamental frequency) , FO range, duration and FO contour. The same portions as used in the acoustic analysis were filtered and rated perceptually by 100 students (average age 20. 7) . The acoustic analysis showed that all three emotions tended to produce similar characteristic differences in range and contour of fundamental frequency in both deaf and hearing groups. Initial F0, however, differed between the groups, and duration of utterance