Rébecca Kleinberger

Why so many of us hate the sound of our voice

Rébecca Kleinberger is a voice expert and assistant professor of humanics and voice technology at Northeastern University in the College of Arts Media Design. Kleinberger’s work mixes science, engineering, design, and art to craft experiences for vocal connection and to facilitate enriching animal-human interactions.

Can Parrots Converse? Polly Says That’s the Wrong Question.

“If it’s a means to an end, what is the end?” said Rébecca Kleinberger, an author of the paper and a researcher at Northeastern University, where she studies how animals interact with technology. “It does seem like there was a bias toward social activity or activity that means remaining in interaction with the caretaker.”

The Times UK

Bird-friendly app keeps parrots entertained

Dr Rebecca Kleinberger, an assistant professor at Northeastern University in Boston, who researches technological enrichment for zoo animals, collaborated with Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, who directs the animal-computer interaction lab at the University of Glasgow, on the findings.

‘Fundie Baby Voice’ Seems To Be Everywhere Now. Here’s What You Should Know.

“Vocal modulation through speech is not a novel phenomenon,” said Rebecca Kleinberger, a voice expert and assistant professor of humanics and voice technology at Northeastern University.

Le Monde

Lonely parrots like to make video calls

The intelligence of parrots no longer needs to be proved. Neither do the subtleties of their social behaviors. They communicate, play, help each other and learn from each other. But with high capacity, comes high needs. “In the wild, they always live in groups, but in captivity they are often alone,” said Rebecca Kleinberger, a […]

Business Insider

Scientists were delighted to discover that parrots willingly made video calls to bird friends and were less lonely as a result

“I think birds in captivity have been misunderstood and mischaracterized for years,” said Jennifer Cunha, parrot behavior expert, researcher at Northeastern University, and one of the study’s authors.

Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Other—and the Birds Loved It

Domesticated parrots that learned to initiate video chats with other pet parrots had a variety of positive experiences, such as learning new skills, researchers from Northeastern University, the University of Glasgow and MIT report this month in Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Daily Mail

Who’s a clever boy? Pet parrots learn to video call their friends to help reduce loneliness

Dr Jennifer Cunha, Affiliate Researcher at Northeastern University and study co-author, said: ‘We saw some really encouraging results from the study.

Parrots taught to video call each other become less lonely, finds research

Video calling could reproduce some of the social benefits of living in a flock, according to Dr Rébecca Kleinberger, of Northeastern University and first author of the study.

Polly Wants a Video Chat

Parrots are popular pets, but they are highly intelligent creatures that need social connection and mental stimulation. A team of scientists wondered whether technology might help provide it. So they enrolled 18 parrots and their owners in an unusual experiment: Would the birds connect over video calls?