Interrelations between listeners' ability to dustinguish speakers and the emotional state of the latter, on one hand, and individual peculiarities of the examinees, on the other hand, are studied. A new test - cognitive orientation, showing a tendency to interpret stimuli (pictures) in geometric, object (inanimate) terms or psychomorphous (animate) ones was worked out and used together with widely known tests. Emotionally unstable, psychomorphously oriented listeners were more successful in distinguishing speakers and their emotional state.