Instead, she believes, such differences are the result of sexual selection. That just doesn’t come about by accident,” Hodges-Simeon says. In voice pitch, we are looking at more like 60 percent. “There is so much attention in evolutionary literature on height, and selective pressures on height, and that’s only an 8 percent difference. Compared to other apes, though, humans have particularly large sexual differences in voice pitch, which is determined by the rate of vibration of our vocal cords. In many animal species, males sound lower and deeper than females-it’s true for baboons, field crickets, red deer, and certain types of frogs, for example.
However, there are contradictions hidden in vocal tones-and not everyone is convinced that vocal pitch speaks volumes about men’s vigor. In the last two years, a spate of anthropological studies suggests that deep voices really are honest indicators of many stereotypical traits, from handgrip strength to fighting prowess. Are men who sound like Barry White really more likely to fend off attackers and sire healthier children than men with tenor tones like Justin Timberlake ? But why would that be?įor years, anthropologists have been trying to discover if male vocal parameters evolved as reliable signals of bodily condition, be it robust immune systems, reproductive fitness, or brawny physiques. Given the widespread fondness for baritones and basses across various sexual identities and cultures, it seems likely that there is an evolutionary reason behind this preference and that vocal pitch may have been an important element in how humans selected mates for millennia. Among Hadza hunter-gatherers in Northern Tanzania, women perceive men with lower voices to be better hunters, and such men father more children, possibly because they are considered more attractive and high status. Achieving a deep voice is also associated with greater well-being in trans men. In another study of trans men undergoing testosterone therapy, vocal masculinization was found to be the most important trait participants wished to change. One study found that single homosexual men rate low-pitched voices as more attractive. This preference for virile voices extends beyond cisgender, heterosexual, industrialized contexts. “Judgments of anything that contributes to success in competition-age, size, muscle mass, confidence, leadership-they are all strongly affected by voice pitch,” says Carolyn Hodges-Simeon, an anthropologist at Boston University. Men with low, resonant voices are more likely to be perceived as attractive, masculine, respectable, and dominant.
Research confirms that deep voices give men an aura of power and sexual allure. American television host David Letterman once asked the singer to read a list of mundane words, including “gingivitis” and “gubernatorial,” to prove they would sound romantic in White’s bass-baritone voice. For many people, Barry White crooning in his thick, honey voice how he “ Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe ,” is the ultimate sound of desire and sexual attraction.
0 kommentar(er)
