Machine Learning-Based Emotion Classification from Voice Signals Using MFCC Central Tendency Features
Abstract
Speech emotion recognition (SER) is a key challenge in affective computing, where subtle emotional cues are often embedded not in the linguistic content of speech but in the voice-related acoustic features. This study proposes a machine learning approach that leverages statistical descriptors of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) to capture the central tendencies of voice signals for multiclass emotion classification. Raw voice from the Toronto Emotional Speech Set (TESS) was processed into nine statistical features, of which six were retained after correlation-based filtering to reduce redundancy and improve generalization. Several classifiers were evaluated, with Support Vector Machine (SVM) achieving the best performance: 84% accuracy, 83% macro-recall, and 83% macro-F1. The improvements after hyperparameter tuning were statistically significant (McNemar’s test, p = 1.606e-20), underscoring the importance of systematic optimization. A comparative analysis revealed that correlation-based feature selection outperformed PCA and LDA in preserving the discriminative power of SVM. Compared with related works that employ deep learning or multi-dataset setups, the proposed framework offers competitive performance while maintaining greater interpretability and computational efficiency. These findings validate the hypothesis that compact, voice-centered statistical features, when optimized, form a reliable basis for robust and efficient emotion recognition systems.
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Software Engineering (Other)
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Putu Harry Gunawan
0000-0002-3635-894X
Indonesia
Yesy Diah Rosita
*
0000-0003-3614-6725
Indonesia
Yohana Wuri Satwika
0009-0004-8904-1470
Indonesia
Rifki Wijaya
0000-0002-8247-6584
Indonesia
Arfin Nurma Halida
0009-0002-2965-7789
Indonesia
Asril Jarin
0000-0001-8360-8166
Indonesia
Insan Ramadhan
0009-0000-4250-7940
Indonesia
Irgi Ahmad Maulana
0009-0000-8868-1215
Indonesia
Wandi Yusuf Kurniawan
0009-0009-6027-4250
Indonesia
Early Pub Date
March 15, 2026
Publication Date
March 15, 2026
Submission Date
July 4, 2025
Acceptance Date
October 6, 2025
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 9 Number: 1
