Sexy voice (for women). Why are men attracted to a high female voice?

By nature, female voices are higher than male voices and differ from them by about an octave. Voice adult woman sounds at a frequency of about 220 hertz, an adult male - about 110 hertz. But for recent decades this distance has been reduced. At least in Germany. What explains this?

Scientists from the University of Leipzig have found a significant decrease in the pitch of the voice in German women. Over the past 20 years, according to their observations, female voices have become almost two times lower, despite the absence of changes in the structure of the vocal apparatus. New result: 165 hertz - the average frequency of the female voice. Height male voices while remaining at the same level.

As part of large-scale study concerning such common diseases of civilization as diabetes, obesity or stroke, scientists at the University Hospital in Leipzig examined several thousand people aged 40 to 80 years over the course of one decade and conducted a comparative analysis not only of various medical indicators, but also of voice tests.

Initially, they proceeded from the fact that women's voices could become lower due to changes in physiology, a gradual increase in the growth of the average woman in Germany, or violations hormonal system. But in the course of comparing the results of the study, the influence of these factors was still not confirmed. And that smoking could contribute to the spread of low voices among women on such a scale has also not been scientifically proven. Study participants included those who did not smoke, those who smoked, and those who smoked and quit. Although smoking makes the voice hoarse, after giving up this bad habit he is recovering. I had to determine the diagnosis by the "method of exclusion".

“We can say that women use their voice differently,” explains the conclusion reached by scientists, one of the authors of the study, Professor of Phoniatrics Michael Fuchs (Michael Fuchs). - Biologically, this phenomenon cannot be substantiated: their anatomical data are the same as in women 50 years ago. But today, women speak in a lower register.”

And they do it, scientists are sure, unconsciously. This is due to changes in the perception of gender roles. “The modern woman is her own mistress. She no longer needs a protector and patron. On a subconscious level, a woman adapts to her changed image in society, ”Michael Fuchs notes in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio station. It turns out that the more emancipated a woman is, the more successful and self-confident she is, the lower her voice.

And if earlier the thin voice of a woman programmed by nature signaled her need for protection, now she is making her own way in a world dominated by men. Low voice at the same time - effective tool: he, as psychologists assure, signals a breakthrough character, reliability and competence.

Of course, culture, social structure and gender expectations in a particular society have a certain influence. For example, in Japan, tall, thin female voice is considered the ideal of beauty, therefore, in a global comparison, Japanese women, and Asian women in general, have much higher voices than other representatives of the fair sex, the scientist cites an example. And Scandinavian women have the lowest voices in the world. However, the image of real emancipes was also fixed for the Scandinavians.

Back in the 1970s, American psychologist Albert Meyerabian found that the effect a person has on others in verbal communication is 38 percent dependent on their voice.

Low, husky voices are perceived by both women and men as more pleasant. Very high, thin voices Many people associate it with naivety, irritability and self-doubt. AT professional environment the sound of the voice plays much today big role than a few decades ago - employees and customers have to communicate more directly. The voice is a kind of acoustic calling card.

For those who want to succeed, career counselors advise learning to control your voice, but not overdo it. The voice should sound businesslike, friendly, and most importantly, natural. It is recommended to adhere to the average pace of speech with short pauses. Great importance has a distinct articulation and loudness. Those who have a thin voice should strengthen it with breathing exercises and simple sentences with many vowels. Before a presentation or an important meeting, it is better to drink warm tea to relax the vocal cords and take five deep breaths in and out.

Leipzig professor Michael Fuchs urges both women and men not to reduce everything to automatism, but to use the voice in all its richness of shades. “Then you will be even more successful than now,” the scientist promises.

April 9th, 2014 , 04:57 pm

Voice inappropriate for gender and age.
Mutational falsetto or puberphonia - a condition in which men retain a high female voice even after adolescence. People with this disease, even in adulthood, speak in a high voice, which happens in little boys.

1. Functional factor
In most cases, functional factors arise as a result of any psychological problems. It often happens that when a voice begins to change in adolescence, a person on a subconscious level experiences opposition to a low tone, and specifically begins to speak in a high voice.

2. Organic factor
Organic abnormalities are usually caused by damage to the mucous membrane of the vocal folds, such as scarring, or developmental disorders of the endocrine system. In such cases, the larynx has a structure similar to that of a woman.

Symptoms of puberphonia
If, with a normal structure of the larynx, only a high voice comes out, and the frequency of the voice coincides with the frequency of the female voice, this indicates puberphonia. In this case, the voice quickly gets tired, and during singing it often breaks and higher notes are “not taken”.
Also, with puberphonia, the tone of the voice is constantly high, it is impossible to speak in a low tone.
If puberphonia is caused by organic changes, the appearance of scarring of the mucous membrane of the vocal folds, or disturbances in the development of the larynx, then hoarseness, a weak or rough high voice, which comes out with the air, is noted.

Diagnosis of puberphonia
If puberphonia is caused by a functional factor, a fibrolaryngoscope and laryngeal stroboscopy will reveal normal vocal folds. During sound production, excessive tension of the external muscles of the larynx can be noted.
With organic puberphonia, damage to the mucous membrane of the vocal folds or a violation of the development of the larynx are observed.

Treatment of puberphonia

Treatment of functional puberphonia is possible with voice training, but it will take a long time. Recently, the method of introducing Botox into the muscles of the larynx responsible for the high tone has been used. Thus, the tone is lowered, and then, in the course of training with a phoniator, a way of voice formation is formed so that it becomes a habit. Foniator exercises carried out after Botox injection significantly shorten the treatment period, and the voice recovers faster.

Organic puberphonia may require percutaneous injection laryngoplasty,

It is believed that with a low voice looks more attractive in the eyes. It seems that there really is some truth in this, but the point is not at all in the very timbre of the voice: low or high, but in various nuances associated with it. This was proved by the results of a recent study conducted by specialists from the University of Vienna.

An experiment in evaluating female voices

The scientists recruited a team of male volunteers and let them listen to recordings of the voices of 42 female students, who were previously photographed. Then the subjects were asked to choose among the voices the most attractive in terms of sexuality. In most cases, participants pointed to girls with beautiful appearance although they did not see their faces.

The authors of the experiment noted that the faces of female students, whose voices were more often identified as " ", were distinguished by the symmetry of features, they, as a rule, had high cheekbones, soft jaw lines and full lips. According to experts, this appearance indicates a good genotype, which also affects the synchronization of the vocal cords, larynx and nasal cavity. On a subconscious level, a man perceives a woman's voice as a signal that everything is all right with her sexually, which means that she can become a wife and mother.

Yes, aspirated words with special nuances can be attractive. But in other cases, on the contrary, it can produce a repulsive impression. And not only when it comes to the sphere of personal relationships. For example, statistics show that women with a low and hoarse voice are less likely to get a job as a result of interviews. It turns out that many perceive people with a "creaky" voice as "unreliable". Maybe because the owners of hoarse voices often smoke and have other bad habits.

Female voices and headhunters

A team of American psychologists once invited 800 headhunters to listen to recordings of various female voices and choose which one they would like to invite to. Only a fifth of the respondents preferred hoarse-voiced women. The rest commented on their choice by saying that a hoarse voice indicates low competence, lack of education and external unattractiveness.

Note that women who work as secretaries or managers and often have to talk to people on the phone tend to have high voices. Perhaps such voices on a subconscious level are more credible. But at the same time, the voices of an overly high timbre, more like a screech, are annoying...

"People prefer voices with vocal characteristics typical of the general population," the scientists say. "While unusual voices may be more memorable, people find normally-sounding voices more attractive."

Voice modulation depending on interest in the interlocutor

By the way, a group of experts from the University of Stirling found out that our voices can change depending on whether we find the interlocutor of the opposite sex attractive. For the purposes of the experiment, 110 heterosexual volunteers were asked to strike up a conversation with each other. Subsequently, all participants were asked to complete questionnaires that assessed the degree of attractiveness of partners. It turned out that if a man liked the woman he was talking to, the tone of his voice decreased, and the modulation increased, that is, the frequency of the tone became more variable.

The head of the study, Juan David Leongomes, explains this by saying that although a low voice timbre indicates masculinity (masculinity), it is also associated with aggression and promiscuity, therefore, wanting to please a lady, a man unconsciously tries to speak in a low voice to signal his masculinity, and at the same time modulates the tone to show that it is non-aggressive and reliable.

So, if during the conversation you noticed that the voice of the stronger sex has become more "singing", then most likely this indicates his interest in you. At the same time, researchers conclude, modulations can increase the attractiveness of a given man in the eyes of a woman. So experienced heartthrobs, consciously or unconsciously, but actively use this technique.

word of the expert

While working on the text, we consulted with a voice professional. Meet the Candidate medical sciences, professor, doctor the highest category, homeopath, ENT-phoniatrist at the Institute of Contemporary Art Natalia Olenchik. Before you move on to looking for jokes in this article, Natalya Vladimirovna asked you to read this in all seriousness: Dear readers! This article has collected basic recommendations that can help improve your voice. It remains for me to add that each person is individual and without a personal visit to the doctor it is difficult to say which advice should be taken into account in the first place. Specific example. The text says that smoking causes aseptic inflammation of the vocal folds. However, I happened to work with two patients who smoke a lot for a long time, but their folds remain absolutely healthy, and their voice does not change. Of course, we are talking about exceptions, but you need to understand that to one degree or another, each of us is an exception. I would recommend this article as a basic course for working on your own voice. For some this will be enough. For everyone else, after a few months of daily exercises, you need to contact a specialist to draw up a further lesson plan that will be adapted specifically for you. And remember that you can't change your own voice, you can only improve it. Please note that the text is intended for healthy people without chronic diseases and pathologies in the larynx and the entire respiratory system. The recommendations do not apply to singers, actors and announcers: people in these professions need special exercises.

If you know that some annoyance can be changed, you try to fix it. The vision began to fall - I went to the optometrist. I didn’t like the body - I bought a fitness subscription. Tired of dragging a translator around with me, I put him back in the storage room and learned twenty languages. Dissatisfaction with our own voice is one of those annoyances that many of us put up with without even trying to fix it. To most, this seems as unlikely as life on Mars or the victory of the Russian national team in figure skating in the World Cup. Actually getting your voice to be the way you like it is not that hard. A little free time, a little patience and a lot of this article are enough. Do you need it? Surely you have met girls fanatically removing freckles; people with minus seven vision who stubbornly refuse to wear glasses, and men combing the scanty mop of remaining hair on the back of their bald heads. But, you must admit, there are many people who incredibly suit glasses, sparkling bald heads and girls with freckles. Why are we? Before you begin to improve your voice, you need to make sure that this is really necessary. We have compiled two lists of reasons that indicate that something needs to be done about your voice. The first list enumerates external causes, emanating from the surrounding reality. The second is your internal. External causes 1. The phrase “Repeat, please” from others you hear not much less often than “Hello!” or "How are you?" At the same time, you are absolutely sure that you speak clearly and loudly enough. “Whether a person will perceive what you say depends on the voice by 30–40%,” says Natalya Olenchik. It is probably because of him that people miss your words. 2. Unexpectedly for yourself, you can start or end a phrase in an unnatural voice: either too high or too low. In particular advanced cases you squeal like a sausage-eating troll. 3. From time to time, honest people fall into your hands who say to your face that your voice does not match your appearance (age, social status, the number of hamburgers you can eat at one time) or just plain nasty. Local causes Below are the main characteristics of the voice, which is worth working on. Our happiness if this list includes at least one epithet that characterizes the sounds you make, because in this case you will surely read this text to the end! You can mow down from reading only because of illness: in order to appreciate the sound of your own voice, you first need to be healthy (flat feet do not count). █ Too high.
█ Husky.
█ Nasal.
█ Trembling.
█ With hoarseness (rarely slipping "signature" hoarseness is not considered).
█ With shortness of breath.
█ Tense (strained, sharp - as you like). How to speak with your voice Another section that will help you to cherish the hope of the tolerability of your own voice for a while. It's possible you're making the wrong sounds. “People who speak unnaturally are quite common,” the expert says. “Moreover, a person usually does not realize the unnaturalness of his voice, he is used to speaking that way.” To start speaking (singing, screaming, boiling potatoes) with your own voice, you need to go through three steps. Let's take a closer look at three of them.

Breathing exercises

one . Remember the army, even if you only saw it in nightmares. Hands at the seams! Bend over with your back bent and take a short but noisy breath. The neck should be relaxed. Gently straighten up (but not completely), allowing the air to slowly exit. Bend over again and inhale sharply again. Well, then you know. Repeat everything 8-10 times, take a five-minute break and repeat again (there should be 8 sets of 8-10 breaths in total). After a few days of training, the number of breaths in one approach can be doubled.
2. Stand up straight. And don't slouch! During a smooth inhalation, spread your arms to the sides and lift them up. Hold your hands and breath for a few seconds. Then sharply bend over and exhale with noise (hands down too). Repeat every day 2-3 times.

█ Shout and sing. “Better in the shower or toilet. There are good acoustics, and you will have the opportunity to hear yourself,” says Natalia Olenchik. Do not forget to sing long notes: the ability to hold them evenly will make your voice more confident. Put your breath
What will you fix:
nasality, trembling, hoarseness, shortness of breath, tension█ Breathe with diaphragmatic (lower) breathing. “Inhale deeply so that the belly comes forward with each breath. At the same time, the chest and shoulders should remain motionless (many lift them up), our consultant advises. “Speak on your breath.” █ Talk a lot. “Recommendations by some experts to set the breath while reading passages from books do not work well, because they are not related to real speech situations. The exception is people who, by virtue of their profession, have to read texts aloud (actors, hosts, etc.), ”explains Natalya Olenchik and encourages you to speak during classes the way you do it in real life. █ Begin to set your breath by speaking in English. This language treats the voice apparatus much more carefully than Russian, and therefore it will be easier to get used to following the rules. █ Do breathing exercises. “Which one is not so important. You can use the technique of A. N. Strelnikova, ”advises Natalia Olenchik. Here we give a couple of exercises as an example - from them and start.

Articulation exercises

one . Pull forward closed lips, and then spread into a wide smile.
2. Alternately raise and lower your upper and lower lips, showing everyone your teeth.
3. Move your lower jaw back and forth, and then open your mouth wide, as if you decided to measure the distance from the refrigerator to the gas stove.
four . Stick out your tongue and make figure eights in the air. You can also draw other numbers with your tongue.
5 . Loudly and clearly pronounce the sounds [b], [m], [c] and [p] in turn.

For this, too, there is a special - articulatory - gymnastics. And do not rush to run to pay for the Internet to find a few exercises there. All of them are simpler than the Zhiguli and are aimed at developing the facial muscles, tongue and jaw. Rubbing the face in circular motions with the tips of the fingers, savory yawns with simultaneous attempts to say something intelligible, dangling the tongue and spanking the lips in different ways will be enough. For greater clarity, we give you a few exercises. Well, do you remember everything? Not? Then it is better to re-read the article again and be careful. Of course, you can always relax and quickly solve the voice problem surgically. To do this, it is enough to apply with a corresponding request to the ENT department of any medical university. But since operations on the vocal folds are a wildly complicated thing, they can only help you with little things - the removal of singing nodules, fibroids and tumor-like formations. This will get rid of hoarseness in the voice, but, unfortunately, will not make it more courageous (that is, lower in sound). Oh yes, even with the help of the operation, you can make your voice much thinner and higher. But this, it seems to us, will hardly interest you.

What voices do men like?

Romantic ideas about perfect couple they draw us a tall man with a low, hoarse voice, and a fragile woman with a high, gentle voice. This picture has a real biological basis. According to statistics, men with deep voices have more children than "tenors": with an increase in testosterone levels in men, the tone of voice decreases. In women, during ovulation (that is, at a time favorable for conception), the general tone of the voice rises (as a result of an increase in the level of estradiol, the female sex hormone). That is, due to ancient natural laws, women subconsciously look for partners with a low voice, and men are “drawn” to the owners of high voices.

And (oh, how often I hear this!) men break their voices, trying to sound lower, "sexier", and women, in the presence of a potential partner, unconsciously "raise" their voice. But the result, alas, most often does not meet expectations. A man artificially lowering his natural tone of voice looks ridiculous: such attempts to give himself masculinity are like the desire of a frog to swell up to the size of an ox, and can only cause a smile in women.

And an artificially high female voice, as a rule, irritates men: instead of “cute chirping”, you get lisping, and hysteria is heard in rising intonations. How to bring your voice closer to the “ideal”, so that it attracts, rather than repels your partner?

First of all, allow yourself to speak naturally. What does your voice sound like when you sigh in relief, or moan, or yawn? This is your natural voice: get used to it! Perhaps you don’t like it, it seems “rude”, not “corresponding to standards”, but when you believe that this is your voice, it will already be possible to “agree” with it. Teach him to obey, to sound louder, quieter, higher, lower, louder, more transparent ... A natural voice will never cause irritation or ridicule in your interlocutor, because he, the voice, is a reflection of your soul, broadcasts your openness, sincerity, readiness for contact.

Can you change your voice? (voice exercises)

Change - no, adjust - yes.

How technically to achieve such a sound?

1. Hold your palms in front of your open mouth and, as in the cold, warm them with your breath: the hotter your breath, the more open your larynx and, accordingly, the closer access to the lower resonators, which give depth and volume to your voice. Do not try to breathe loudly and strongly, let your breath be light and hot.

2. Then, keeping the same feeling, add some sound to the breath. Gradually turn up the volume as long as the warm breath persists.

4. When you master this exercise, add separate syllables to the voice stream, into the vowels O, A, then E, U, I. Do not forget about the “hot spring”!

5. And finally, move on to words and phrases. Your speech will be not only gentle, but deep and melodious.

Give your voice at least ten minutes a day, and the result will not be slow to affect. A voice filled with breath sounds penetrating, echoes in the depths of your interlocutor's consciousness, awakens feelings and desires, remains in memory for a long time, along with the words that he utters.

Of course, in addition to breathing, for the sexual attractiveness of the voice, its timbre, intonation, and rhythm of speech are no less important. Having mastered the whole complex of voice skills, you will not only increase your “sexual rating”, but also acquire a powerful communication tool - for love, for business, for understanding yourself as a full-fledged person.

How to please the man of your dreams?

By ear. Develop your ear, and you will be able to hear his speech, like a song, "learn" it and sing it to him, but with your own voice!
Hear how he speaks: at what pace, how often he pauses, what intonations he uses, how smooth his speech is, how and where he puts accents ....
If you can hear this, adjust the natural sound of your voice to this tempo, rhythm, intonation ....
And beautiful stranger in an unknown way, he will feel that he knows you, as if, a long time ago, almost like himself, he will feel the location and trust and will certainly want to continue communication!