It is difficult to overestimate the role that his voice plays for a person. Perhaps its importance is even greater than our appearance. A pleasant voice can contribute to success both in your career and in the field of love. Often, it does not even depend on what we say, but on the sound of our voice whether we will arouse sympathy from others, whether we will win new acquaintances to ourselves or not. Some voices are annoying, others evoke certain associations or memories. Or – just caress the ear.
And the voice can also tell about the character of its owner. This became clear as a result of a study carried out by an international research group led by the University of Göttingen. Within its framework, psychologists analyzed the voices of more than 2,000 people and asked respondents about their personal qualities. This is the first survey in the world to use an objective digital measure of the pitch that a human voice can produce. The results of the experiment are impressive.
Voice parameters and character traits
On the one hand, psychologists were unable to establish a direct connection between the parameters of the voice and such personal qualities of a person as sociability, mental instability, commitment or openness. Instead, they found that women and men with lower voices tend to be dominant and extroverted, and also differ in socio-sexual orientation, that is, they are more likely to show an increased interest in casual sex outside of relationships and with different partners. But for people with a high voice, it is characteristic that they are mostly introverts and are characterized by increased irritability.
The experiment proceeded as follows: its participants were asked to read aloud the same texts. An audio recording was made during the reading. The respondents also filled out questionnaires, the analysis of which allowed scientists to draw conclusions about the features of their sexual behavior and how dominant, extroverted, benevolent, conscientious, emotional, and open to experience they are. After that, the pitch of the voice was calculated from the audio recordings and the degree of its correlation with the personality traits revealed during the study of the questionnaires was determined.
The measurement of the pitch of the pre-recorded sound of the voice of the women and men participating in the experiment was carried out using a special computer program. This is the first study in the world to use an objective digital measure of the pitch that a human voice can produce, rather than purely subjective ratings such as “high” or “low”.
Akin to a litmus test
According to lead author of the study, Julia Stern of the University of Göttingen, the results of this experiment support the widespread assumption that the voice – at least in part – tells about a person’s character.
“Even when we hear only a voice – for example, on the phone – we quickly understand who we are talking to: a man, woman, child or an elderly person. whether his sadness or he is nervous. We even begin to speculate about how much you can trust him and how dominant he is, “- quoted the researcher website of the University of Göttingen.
Testosterone and socio-cultural factors
A study of 254 heterosexual students aged 18 to 26, conducted by scientists at Southwestern University in Chongqing, China, also yielded results similar to those of a study by an international group of scientists led by the University of Göttingen. It also proved that men with a lower voice have such character traits as a frivolous attitude towards loyalty to their soul mate and a tendency to frequent adultery.
According to the assumption of Chinese researchers, this sexual behavior is associated with the presence in the body of high levels of the sex hormone testosterone, which stimulates the desire for sex. In puberty boys, testosterone also causes the larynx and vocal cords to grow, resulting in a lower voice.
There is no exact explanation as to why some women also have a low voice. But, according to the results of the study, those are also extroverted, prone to manifestation of dominance and not too picky in sexual relations. By the way, a 2017 study by the Leipzig University Hospital showed that over the past two decades, the voices of German women have become lower – without any changes in the larynx and vocal cords.
And this suggests that such social and cultural factors as, for example, the growing emancipation of women, can also play a role here and influence character. However, further research is needed to clarify these relationships.
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