"Vocal communication is one of the most important human characteristics, and pitch is the most perceptually noticeable aspect of voice," said David Puts, study co-author and professor of anthropology at Penn State University in a press release.
"Understanding how voice pitch influences social perceptions can help us understand social relationships more broadly, how we attain social status, how we evaluate others on social status and how we choose mates," he added.
For the study, researchers selected two male and two female voice recordings repeating the same sentence. They then edited the clips to produce the average pitch for the speaker's sex alongside a higher and lower-pitched version of each voice, and asked 3,173 participants from 22 countries to report which were more attractive, flirtatious, formidable, and prestigious.
Ultimately, they found that both men and women preferred lower-pitched voices for long-term relationships such as marriage. Meanwhile, men perceived females with higher-pitched voices as more attractive for short-term relationships, while women perceived the same pitches as sounding more flirtatious and more attractive to men.
They further found that participants from across cultures perceived lower-pitch male voices as more formidable- especially among younger men, and more prestigious- especially among older men. The researchers noted that lower pitches may be perceived as more formidable as larger beings tend to produce lower frequencies.
Socio-ecological variables also affected the results. For example, men's perceptions of formidability and prestige were more pronounced in societies with higher homicide rates and greater relational mobility, a sociological measure for freedom and opportunity to form interpersonal relationships based on personal preferences. The researchers noted that these factors might indicate higher male intrasexual competition and more importance in identifying high-status competitors.
They noted, however, that there are some limitations to their findings. The use of English speech samples, for example, means that the results may not apply to other languages or linguistic variations. They also noted that sociological variables were measured at a national level and not from participants directly, meaning they may not accurately reflect participants' lived experiences.
Sources: Psychological Science, Science Daily
