University of Cincinnati
06/16/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/16/2026 10:51
AI can clone your voice. Why that’s powerful — and dangerous
AI can clone your voice. Why that's powerful - and dangerous
New UC research dives into the persuasiveness of vocal similarity
6 minute read June 16, 2026 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Print Story Like
Using artificial intelligence, scammers can duplicate someone's voice with just seconds of audio, says the University of Cincinnati's Kimberly Hyun. Imposter scams are one of the most common forms of fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Hyun, assistant professor of marketing at UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business, studies the role of voice in persuasion. In her own research, she uses machine learning to analyze voices with less than 10 seconds of audio.
"As voice recognition and cloning technology is getting more and more accessible, we were interested in seeing if a voice that's similar to our own voice sounds more persuasive," Hyun said.
That's why she spearheaded the study, "Vocal similarity, timbre and persuasion in consumer-spokesperson interactions." It was recently published in the Journal of Marketing Research.
Hyun's research quantifies sensory modalities, with a focus on vocal timbre. Photo/provided
She found that a consumer's guard is lowered when speaking to someone that sounds familiar. The closer the vocal quality to the consumer, the more persuasive the spokesperson. In other words, recognizable voices, ones that sound like people we know and trust - or even our own voice - are more likely to make us comply.
Hyun's team was specifically measuring timbre: The unique color of one's voice. Even with the same pitch, tone and volume, two voices can be distinguished through their timbre.
"Every voice is very different, just like how every face is very different. Just like how face ID works, we can identify people using their own voice," Hyun said.
The timbre is what gives each voice its own unique sound, like a fingerprint.
"Across analyses of sales pitches and in our experiments, we found that similar voices are more persuasive," Hyun said. "Even when someone has no other reason to think a speaker is more credible."
Measuring vocal quality
The research was done in multiple parts: First, Hyun analyzed the success rate of more than 7,000 pitches on "Shark Tank," a popular reality TV series, across 14 seasons. She measured the timbre of the spokespeople for each pitch and how similar they sounded to the "sharks" or investors that decided to finance the project.
After that, Hyun analyzed over 2,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns. As an online platform, Kickstarter does not require a voice to successfully raise funds, but Hyun found that out of those that did include audio, voices that were more like the average voice of their target population boosted the campaign's success rate by hundreds of dollars per contributor. The "ordinary," or statistically average, voice boosted success by matching a mass audience. Even without a specific listener to compare to, that familiarity to a general population still boosted persuasion.
Hyun's research program highlights important business implications of AI and virtual reality.
Karen Machleit, Phd, department head and professor of marketing
Hyun then conducted four experiments that had participants listening to a variety of advertisements that showed an increased amount of trust in people that sounded familiar or similar. For all of these experiments, Hyun utilized the same machine learning techniques seen in voice recognition technology to quantify that similarity in vocal timbre.
The project is Hyun's first publication as a faculty member at UC, and she plans to dive further into machine learning and the practical applications of vocal quality research.
"Hyun's research program highlights important business implications of AI and virtual reality," said Karen Machleit, department head in UC's Lindner College of Business. "Her methods are rigorous and her research questions are forward thinking. She is sure to continue to make valuable contributions to business practice, and we are thrilled to have her lead virtual reality research in our lab."
The power of persuasion
Hyun stressed that innovation in the study of persuasion is crucial because persuasion's power reaches beyond business and is applicable in politics and education.
"This is something that we haven't really thought about previously in the persuasion literature," Hyun said. "A voice is so subtle that we barely recognize in a lot of cases how people are trying to persuade you through it."
"Face recognition is what's been used in the mainstream," Hyun said. "But now we should be thinking that even our voices can identify you as an individual customer."
And adding persuasion into customer tracking can be an effective and dangerous tool. A phone scammer can imitate a loved one's voice, making the listener more likely to comply with their demands.
"As voice technology and cloning technology gets more advanced and accessible, it's so much easier to just create an AI salesperson's voice that's similar to your voice," Hyun said. "It can cause us to lower our guard and comply with their recommendation."
The next groundbreaking discovery
UC is a powerhouse of discovery and impact as a Carnegie 1 research institution. From pioneering medical research to transformative engineering and social innovation, our faculty and students drive progress that reaches across the world.
Featured image at top of colleagues talking in an office. Photo/Adobe Stock
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