biostudies-literatureOzaki YEuropean Research Councileadm9797https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11095461biostudies-literatureUnknown10(20)Both music and language are found in all known human societies, yet no studies have compared similarities and differences between song, speech, and instrumental music on a global scale. In this Registered Report, we analyzed two global datasets: (i) 300 annotated audio recordings representing matched sets of traditional songs, recited lyrics, conversational speech, and instrumental melodies from our 75 coauthors speaking 55 languages; and (ii) 418 previously published adult-directed song and speech recordings from 209 individuals speaking 16 languages. Of our six preregistered predictions, five were strongly supported: Relative to speech, songs use (i) higher pitch, (ii) slower temporal rate, and (iii) more stable pitches, while both songs and speech used similar (iv) pitch interval size aScience advancesGlobally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report.PMC11095461678733101045747Nguqu NEl Kahla IParselelo MLZar SZVarnosfaderani SDChiba GOzaki YFujii SLomsadze TSetiawan IPGSadaphal PMArhine AMeachair TOTsope CSy LLekakul GProutskova PSadaphal DPAnglada-Tort MFredriksson DSagarzazu NBZeng MRavignani AHegde Sder Nederlanden CVBKolff KRocamora MEhara UChhatwal MKrzyzanowski WSoto-Silva IFitch WTDessiatnitchenko PLarrouy-Maestri PPurdy SCKurdova Dvan Tongeren MVarella MACBenetos EHadavi SNatsitsabui RJacoby NHaiduk FOpondo PSarbah JPBorsan VNMuslu OShcherbakova ONaruse MHansen NCBarbosa BSSilva-Zurita JRaviv LHereld DChoo SKuikuro UDavid RMMcBride JMTroy JNweke FLoui PBruder CTierney AGomez-Canon JSPfordresher PQMagalhaes VThorne RAmbrazevicius RTeyxokawa TPFærovik UArabadjiev AMillalonco NEMJadoul YLiu FSavage PEfalseGlobally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report.Both music and language are found in all known human societies, yet no studies have compared similarities and differences between song, speech, and instrumental music on a global scale. In this Registered Report, we analyzed two global datasets: (i) 300 annotated audio recordings representing matched sets of traditional songs, recited lyrics, conversational speech, and instrumental melodies from our 75 coauthors speaking 55 languages; and (ii) 418 previously published adult-directed song and speech recordings from 209 individuals speaking 16 languages. Of our six preregistered predictions, five were strongly supported: Relative to speech, songs use (i) higher pitch, (ii) slower temporal rate, and (iii) more stable pitches, while both songs and speech used similar (iv) pitch interval size a2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 May2026-06-01T19:58:09.255Z2026-05-20T03:07:54.447ZS-EPMC110954613874879810.1126/sciadv.adm9797