The voice gives away a person’s sex, age and state of mind — and more specifically, a women’s voice can tell men whether they are close to ovulation. But a new study challenges the view that women broadcast reproductive information through their voices. Previous studies relied on the comparison of voices recorded in just two phases of the cycle: high conception risk vs. low conception risk. This new research, led by Julia fischer (German Primate Centre), Stuart Semple (Roehampton University, London) and Ofer Amir (Tel Aviv University), however, looked at variation in the voice throughout the entire menstrual cycle.
Their results showed that the overall variation in women’s vocal quality throughout the whole cycle precludes identification of the period with the highest conception risk, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reports.
While they found that these women spoke with the highest tone (which previous studies linked with attractiveness) just prior to ovulation, the tone rose again to levels indistinguishable from pre-ovulation shortly after ovulation, making it a very poor mating clue, according to a Primate Centre statement. Furthermore, they found that men showed only a very slight preference for pre-ovulation voices relative to voices recorded during ovulation. The authors conclude that women’s voices do not provide reliable information about the timing of ovulation, confirming the view that information about reproductive state is “leaked” rather than broadcast. —