Study finds voice a sexual factor

Anna Moser Staff Writer

If you ever thought altering your voice might sway your secret crush into asking you out on a date, you could be right. Assistant Professor Susan Hughes of the Psychology Department recently released an article about her study on the relationship between the human voice, sexual behavior, and body shape, published in the September 2004 issue of Evolution and Human Behavior. Hughes’s findings show a definite correlation between the three characteristics and suggest that a person’s voice may not only serve as a mode of communication, but also as an indicator of biologically relevant features like body configuration and sexual behavior.

This study was conducted on 149 undergraduate students (77 females and 72 males) from the State University of New York at Albany. To determine the “attractiveness” of one’s voice, students were each asked to provide a voice sample. The samples were then rated by other students involved in the study who had no relationship with the people whose voice samples they heard.

In addition, configurations such as waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) and shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) were measured on women and men, respectively. According to Hughes’s study, “females with smaller WHRs and males with larger SHRs had voices that were consistently rated as more attractive.”

“Voice is shaped and modified by certain hormones such as testosterone and estrogen and these same hormones also play a role in influencing both sexual drive as well the sex-specific changes in body shape that occur during puberty,” said Hughes. “Having an attractive voice or a particular attractive body shape may also promote sexual opportunities. Therefore, the link between voice, body configuration, and sexual behavior may be due to similar hormonal influences, attractiveness promoting sexual opportunity, or both.”

While the body mass index of each student was also accounted for, the study did not reveal any evident links between one’s body mass index and voice-attractiveness in either males or females. This observation contrasts with the positive relationship between voice-attractiveness and WHRs or SHRs.

Hughes’s work does not prescribe notions of an ideal voice, but it does suggest that voice may serve as an important ‘multidimensional fitness indicator.’ On human behavior during prehistoric times, Hughes writes, “Voice may have been an important parameter of mate choice, particularly at night, when vision was compromised.” She emphasized that voice may have played an important sexual role in human evolutionary history.

Her collaborators for the article at SUNY Albany, are Professor of Psychology Gordon G. Gallup Jr. and Franco Dispenza at the university’s Residential Life office.

Now a first-year Assistant Professor at Vassar College, Susan Hughes studies the impact of evolution on human behavior. Prior to her Vassar career, she taught at SUNY Albany. She also finished her Ph.D. during her time there.

Her article has been published in Evolution and Human Behavior, which is a bounded, peer-reviewed scientific journal. It can be accessed online through the Vassar library’s online-journal system. Hard copies are also available in the library’s periodical room.