Dating Even the pitch reveals whether one is perceived as attractive

This is how you recognize your chances of choosing a partner by voice

As can be seen in singing, humans are easily able to manipulate and vary their vocal tract and voice. Whether this ability is used specifically in the search for a partner was recently examined by a European research team in a study. It showed that both women and men strike different tones as soon as they find the conversation partner attractive.

Researchers from the University of Sussex, UK, and the University of Wroclaw, UK, found in a recent study that dating seekers change their voice when they talk to someone they find attractive. Thus, it was found that men lower their voice when they find the interlocutor sexually interesting. For the women, this was a bit more complicated. They lowered or increased their pitch depending on the situation. The results were recently published in the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences".

As researchers found in a recent study, women and men are deliberately changing their voices to be more attractive to potential partners. (Image: detailblick-foto / fotolia.com)

The voice of flirting

The research team noted that both women and men use targeted pitch changes to signal interest to their counterparts. The team watched participants in a speed dating event and recorded the tone of voice. It turned out that men consistently use lower pitch when talking to a woman they are attracted to.

Women change the pitch depending on the situation

For the ladies, things were a bit more difficult. When a man was considered attractive by many women, participants in the study tended to use a lower voice than usual. "Women lowered vocal cords in men who were most favored by other women," said lead author of the study, Katarzyna Pisanski of Sussex University, in an English press release on the study's findings.

When women talk higher or lower than normal

However, if a woman speaks to a man who is not sought after by the majority of women, but is considered a suitable partner by the woman, the study tends to speak higher than normal, according to the study. The psychologist Pisanski explains this apparent contradiction: In her opinion, a high pitch in women to signal youth, femininity and reproductive ability, whereas a lower pitch is more connected with sexual interest and intimacy.

Women are pickier

The study also showed that women are more picky than men. While the women found in speed dating only an average of every third man attractive, the men were interested in every second woman. (Vb)