Trying to sound attractive is easier for women than men.
Speaking slowly makes people sound more intelligent, research finds.
A lower tone also makes both sexes sound more attractive.
Women asked to talk in a more attractive way for the study automatically lowered the pitch of their voice and made it sound more breathy — which men find attractive.
While women had no trouble changing their voice to make it sound more sexy, men found it harder.
To sound more attractive, both sexes also speak slower, the authors write:
“…both sexes in our sample slowed their speech in comparison to their normal speech when trying to sound attractive/sexy…
Perhaps the slowing of one’s voice in a mating scenario is an attempt to convey approachability, as decreased speaking rate was found to increase the benevolence ratings of a speaker.”
Women, though, when they listened to men trying to sound attractive, were not convinced.
When women tried to sound sexier, it was more convincing.
Dr Susan Hughes, the study’s first author, said:
“This ability may be due to culture and cuts across cultures and time.
There is a stereotype of what is a sexual voice in our culture — a low, breathy voice.”
The study had people trying to intentionally change their voices to embody different traits.
They tried to sound more sexy, confident, intelligent and dominant.
Dr Hughes said men found it difficult to sound sexy:
“In fact, although not significantly, it got a bit worse when men tried to sound sexy.”
Both sexes, though, had no problem sounding more intelligent and more dominant.
The researchers explained the changes people made:
“…both sexes slowed their speech and women lowered their pitch and had greater vocal hoarseness.
Both sexes raised their pitch and spoke louder to sound dominant and women had less vocal hoarseness.”
Women, though, found it hard to sound more confident.
The reason for the differences could be down to practice, the researchers think.
Men do not really focus on making their voice sound sexier, but women do.
The study was published in Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Hughes et al., 2014).
