Aug 28, 2014

Howcast's guide for men who want a sexier tone of voice Lead researcher Juan David Leongómez said it is important for men to sound masculine, but that extreme masculinity can be associated with negative traits. He said: 'Previous research has shown that humans signal their romantic interest in several different ways, including non-verbal behaviours and body language, like eye contact and casual touching,- for example playfully touching someone's hair. 'Our study shows that people also modulate their voices to signal romantic interest and that this, in turn, seems to make the speaker seem more attractive. Men were found to speak in a more 'sing-song' voice similar to actor Leslie Phillips (pictured) when speaking to women they found attractive 'For men, it is important to sound masculine, which is manifested in a deeper voice pitch. However, extreme masculinity is associated with negative traits in a partner, like a tendency for increased aggressiveness and promiscuity. 'This puts men in a dilemma, because they have to convey two seemingly contradictory messages at the same time: "I am a masculine man", and "I'd be a good partner and father". ‘The solution may be to vary their pitch – which would explain the sing-songy quality of the voices we observed in men speaking to attractive women. '  The researchers' findings also showed that by-standers respond to these subtle differences too. When the voice recording of a man speaking to an attractive woman was played to female listeners, the listeners found the voice more attractive than a recording of the same man speaking to a less attractive woman. The men whose voices were recorded were Czech and the bystanding female listeners were British - so the experiment was designed to ensure the women did not understand the words being spoken. This indicates the male speakers' attractiveness was due to their subtle voice changes, rather than what they were saying. Mr Leongómez said: 'If a woman perceives a man's voice to be more sing-songy, then it is likely the man finds her attractive. However, these vocal modulations are very subtle and probably not produced consciously by the speaker. 'Additionally, while they help make a person sound more attractive to the opposite sex, people do not seem to be aware of why they find the voice more attractive. ' The study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, added these subtle changes are probably not produced consciously by the speaker. Share or comment on this article 20