Neuroscience & Communication: We talk with our hands—& people can hear it.

A new study challenges assumptions that hand “gestures only serve to depict or point out something.” There may be a closer relationship between spoken language and gestures than may otherwise appear.

“When people move their hands and arms while using their voices, listeners are able to hear it. Even without seeing the messenger, we can pick up each other's body language.”

“Most people gesture while talking - from a small wrist movement to complete sign language involving arms, hands and fingers. This form of non-verbal communication supports what someone says, and, in some cases, it is even indispensable in order to explain something properly.”

“[E]ven during phone calls, or when shouting from another room, we often talk with our hands. And that is not pointless at all.” Acoustics such as “pitch and volume of a voice change together with the movement of arms and hands."

“Hence, a voice is more than just an abstract collection of sounds, according to the researcher, ‘When you hear a voice, you literally hear aspects of a person's entire body.’"

The entire article can be found here.