Fertility-Dependent Acoustic Variation in Women’s Voices Previously Shown to Affect Listener Physiology and Perception

Abstract

Previous research demonstrates that listeners perceive women's voices as more attractive when recorded at high compared to low fertility phases of the menstrual cycle. This effect has been repeated with multiple voice recording samples, but one stimuli set has shown particularly robust replications. First collected by Pipitone and Gallup (2008), women were recorded counting from 1-10 on approximately the same day and time once a week for 4 weeks. Repeatedly, studies using these recordings have shown that naturally cycling women recorded at high fertility are rated as more attractive compared to voices of the same women at low fertility. Additionally, these stimuli have been shown to elicit autonomic nervous system arousal and precipitate a rise in testosterone levels among listeners. Although previous studies have examined the acoustic properties of voices across the menstrual cycle, they reach little consensus. The current study evaluates Pipitone and Gallup's voice stimuli from an acoustic perspective, analyzing specific vocal characteristics of both naturally cycling women and women taking hormonal contraceptives. Results show that among naturally cycling women, variation in vocal amplitude (shimmer) was significantly lower in high fertility recordings compared to the women's voices at low fertility. Harmonics-to-noise ratio and variation in voice pitch (jitter) also fluctuated systematically across voices sampled at different times during the menstrual cycle, though these effects were not statistically significant. It is possible that these acoustic changes could account for some of the replicated perceptual, hormonal, and physiological changes documented in prior literature using these voice stimuli.

Chemical cues of identity and reproductive status in Japanese macaques

“…Encoded information (Gangestad et al, 2002;Haselton et al, 2007) Voice pitch Correlates with the fertile phase. Encoded information and receivers' response (Pipitone & Gallup, 2008Pisanski et al, 2018;Shoup-Knox et al, 2019) Body odor Pleasantness may correlate with the period of highest fertility.…”

The Sound of an Honest Signal: The Role of the FUT2 Gene in Female Voice, Health, Fertility, and Fecundity

“…This hormonal state matches that of the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle. Interestingly, research has not consistently demonstrated any acoustic fluctuations that account for listener preference, or that correlate with hormonal status (Puts et al, 2013;Bryant & Haselton, 2009;Pavela Banai, 2017;Fischer et al, 2011;Karthikeyan & Locke, 2015;Celik et al, 2013;Shoup-Knox et al, 2019). Collectively, these findings suggest that the voice varies across the menstrual cycle in ways that elude typical acoustic measures, but clearly impact listener responses.…”