The Sound of Voice: Voice-Based Categorization of Speakers’ Sexual Orientation within and across Languages

Abstract

Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency) and to non-native speakers (language-specificity), has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.

Gay- and Lesbian-Sounding Auditory Cues Elicit Stereotyping and Discrimination

“…In Study 1a, four male speakers were selected from a database by Sulpizio et al (2015) whose speakers had been rated for sexual orientation on a scale from 1 (completely homosexual) to 6 (completely heterosexual) and whose vocal cues were analyzed. Of the 20 speakers of Sulpizio et al’s study, we chose the two speakers who had the highest likelihood to be perceived as gay ( M  = 1.49, SD = .63) and two speakers who were consistently perceived as heterosexual ( M  = 4.60, SD = .93), t (85) = −27.62, p  < .001, d  = 5.99.…”

“…However, other studies have often disproven this claim and suggested that people distinguish between gay and heterosexual individuals on the basis of the stereotypical idea of how gays appear or sound (Smyth et al, 2003; Sulpizio et al, 2015). According to gender inversion theory (Kite & Deaux, 1987), gay/lesbian individuals are expected to be similar, even in terms of face and voice, to opposite-sex heterosexuals.…”

Voice and Prejudice: The Social Costs of Auditory Gaydar

“…Surprisingly, this is true even when listeners are informed beforehand that half of the speakers are straight and half gay (Sulpizio et al, 2015). The reluctance to identify speakers as "gay" is also confirmed by studies using the Mouse Tracking procedure (Freeman & Ambady, 2010), in which people tend to move the mouse in a rather hesitant way when identifying targets as "gay," but with a relatively straight line when identifying them as "straight" (Sulpizio et al, 2015). Categorization of individuals as straight appears to be straightforward and immediate, whereas deciding whether someone is LG may be more complex as it requires to evaluate different alternatives.…”

“…LG speakers as straight (see "straight categorization bias", Lick & Johnson, 2016). Surprisingly, this is true even when listeners are informed beforehand that half of the speakers are straight and half gay (Sulpizio et al, 2015). The reluctance to identify speakers as "gay" is also confirmed by studies using the Mouse Tracking procedure (Freeman & Ambady, 2010), in which people tend to move the mouse in a rather hesitant way when identifying targets as "gay," but with a relatively straight line when identifying them as "straight" (Sulpizio et al, 2015).…”

“…However, accuracy greatly depends on how it is defined and on how SO is conceptualized and measured (dichotomous or continuous). When using continua (e.g., from exclusively gay to exclusively straight), studies often found evidence for "relative accuracy" such that LG speakers are, on average, perceived as less heterosexual than straight speakers (Sulpizio et al, 2015;Valentova & Havlíček, 2013), but not for "absolute accuracy" given that mean ratings for LG speakers are generally located on the heterosexual side of the continuum. Put simply, LG speakers are, on average, perceived as heterosexual, although to a lesser degree than straight speakers.…”