Physiological changes in response to hearing female voices recorded at high fertility

Shoup-Knox, Melanie L.; Pipitone, R. Nathan

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.11.028

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“… 74 . Female listeners additionally show increased galvanic skin response and increased heart rate when presented with naturally cycling, high fertility female voices 81 . Longitudinal reproductive value over the lifespan can also be reliably assessed by voice 82 , and women use voice parameters to assess men’s reproductive characteristics including age, weight, and testosterone levels 25 .…”

Section: Aging Fertility and Voicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Perception of Operational Sex Ratios by Voice

Neuhoff

2017

Sci Rep

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Adult sex ratios in a local environment are linked to a wide variety of reproductive behaviors in humans and other animals. When sex ratios are biased, the more numerous sex faces increased competition for mates and is more likely to yield to the sociosexual preferences of the less numerous sex. Despite widespread evidence of the relationship between sex ratios and behavior, we know little about whether or how sex ratios are encoded and perceived. In two experiments men and women showed perceived sex ratios that correlated with actual sex ratios after 1500 ms exposures to groups of simultaneous voices. However, men perceived more female voices than women did, and women perceived more male voices than men did. Women showed better accuracy than men, but only when sex ratios departed markedly from 50%. Increasing the number of simultaneous voices reduced accuracy, but only at extreme sex ratios. Talker age also significantly affected perceived sex ratios, suggesting that perceived operational sex ratios are adaptively linked to the reproductive viability of the local population. The results suggest that listeners automatically encode vocal sex ratio information and that perceived sex ratios are influenced by characteristics of the local population and characteristics of the listener.

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Section: Aging Fertility and Voicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Perception of Operational Sex Ratios by Voice

Neuhoff

2017

Sci Rep

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“…These proposed physiological changes in the laryngeal mucosa in relation to hormone fluctuation might cause changes in voice production, as well as in voice quality and perceived attractiveness. Indeed, research has revealed that attractiveness ratings of women's voices varied across the menstrual cycle, with higher ratings being found for voices recorded in the fertile phase [ 23 – 27 ], and lowest ratings for voices recorded in the menstrual phase [ 28 ]. This implies that voice is also a potentially valuable source of biologically important information such as women's fertility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voice in different phases of menstrual cycle among naturally cycling women and users of hormonal contraceptives

Banai

2017

PLoS ONE

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Previous studies have shown changes in women's behavior and physical appearance between the non-fertile and fertile phases of the menstrual cycle. It is assumed that these changes are regulated by fluctuations in sex hormone levels across the cycle. Receptors for sex hormones have been found on the vocal folds, suggesting a link between hormone levels and vocal fold function, which might cause changes in voice production. However, attempts to identify changes in voice production across the menstrual cycle have produced mixed results. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate changes in sexually dimorphic vocal characteristics and quality of women’s voices in different phases of the cycle and to compare these with users of monophasic hormonal contraception. Voice samples (vowel phonation) of 44 naturally cycling women were obtained in the menstrual, late follicular (confirmed by LH surge) and luteal phases, and in 20 hormonal contraceptive users across equivalent stages of the monthly cycle. Results showed that voices of naturally cycling women had higher minimum pitch in the late follicular phase compared with the other phases. In addition, voice intensity was at its lowest in the luteal phase. In contrast, there were no voice changes across the cycle in hormonal contraceptive users. Comparison between the two groups of women revealed that the naturally cycling group had higher minimum pitch in the fertile phase and higher harmonics to noise ratio in the menstrual phase. In general, present results support the assumption that sex hormones might have an effect on voice function. These results, coupled with mixed findings in previous studies, suggest that vocal changes in relation to hormonal fluctuation are subtle, at least during vowel production. Future studies should explore voice changes in a defined social context and with more free-flowing speech.

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“…Pipitone and Gallup (2008) were the first to document the influence of these fluctuations on the perception of women's voices. Since then, other researchers have replicated these findings even when using different recorded utterances and voice collection methodologies (Karthikeyan & Locke, 2015;Ostrander et al, 2018;Pipitone & Gallup, 2012;Pipitone, Gallup, & Bartels, 2016;Puts et al, 2013;Shoup-Knox & Pipitone, 2015). Listeners consistently prefer the voice of women recorded at high fertility compared to the same women recorded at low fertility.…”

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confidence: 88%

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

et al. 2019

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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.

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Physiological changes in response to hearing female voices recorded at high fertility

Cited by 20 publications

References 50 publications

The Perception of Operational Sex Ratios by Voice

The Perception of Operational Sex Ratios by Voice

Voice in different phases of menstrual cycle among naturally cycling women and users of hormonal contraceptives

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

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