Fundamental frequency of the female's voice: A cross-country empirical study on its influence on social and sexual selection

•Voice fundamental frequency (Fo) influences on social and sexual selection.•683 Spaniards and 484 Italians rated six voices with a low, medium, and high Fo.•Men and women rated voices with a medium Fo as more feminine and attractive.•Medium Fo voices aroused greater sexual desire (men) and desire t...

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Published in:Personality and individual differences 2020-07, Vol.160, p.109937-7, Article 109937
Main Authors: Cussigh, G., Ballester-Arnal, R., Gil-Llario, M.D., Giménez-García, C., Castro-Calvo, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attractiveness
Cross-country comparison
Female voice
Femininity
Friendship
Fundamental frequency
Sexual desire
Spanish language
Subjective sexual arousal
Voices
Women
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Summary:•Voice fundamental frequency (Fo) influences on social and sexual selection.•683 Spaniards and 484 Italians rated six voices with a low, medium, and high Fo.•Men and women rated voices with a medium Fo as more feminine and attractive.•Medium Fo voices aroused greater sexual desire (men) and desire to engage in a friendship (women).•Cross-country equivalence of our findings suggests that influence of Fo on attractiveness is predisposed. Recent studies demonstrate that voice (in particular, its fundamental frequency -Fo-) may influence on social and sexual selection. Here, we tested how the Fo of female's voice is related to different aspects of social and sexual selection through a novel experimental approach. First, we recorded and measured the Fo of 22 women reading a neutral text in Spanish language. Six of these voices were selected and classified into three categories: voices with a low Fo (225 Hz). Then, these voices were rated by two independent samples including both men and women: one comprised of native Spanish-speakers (n = 683) and the other comprised of native Italian non-Spanish-speakers (n = 484). Contrarily to what we hypothesized, voices with an average Fo were rated as more feminine and attractive, aroused a greater subjective sexual desire in men, and were more strongly related to the desire to engage in a friendship in women. These findings were independent of the sex of the respondents, as well as of the country in which the study was carried out.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2020.109937