Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women
IntroductionResearch has shown that women’s vocal characteristics change during the menstrual cycle. Further, evidence suggests that individuals alter their voices depending on the context, such as when speaking to a highly attractive person, or a person with a different social status. The present s...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-12-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1401158/full |
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| author | Janek S. Lobmaier Wilhelm K. Klatt Stefan R. Schweinberger Stefan R. Schweinberger |
| author_facet | Janek S. Lobmaier Wilhelm K. Klatt Stefan R. Schweinberger Stefan R. Schweinberger |
| author_sort | Janek S. Lobmaier |
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| description | IntroductionResearch has shown that women’s vocal characteristics change during the menstrual cycle. Further, evidence suggests that individuals alter their voices depending on the context, such as when speaking to a highly attractive person, or a person with a different social status. The present study aimed at investigating the degree to which women’s voices change depending on the vocal characteristics of the interaction partner, and how any such changes are modulated by the woman’s current menstrual cycle phase.MethodsForty-two naturally cycling women were recorded once during the late follicular phase (high fertility) and once during the luteal phase (low fertility) while reproducing utterances of men and women who were previously assessed to have either attractive or unattractive voices.ResultsPhonetic analyses revealed that women’s voices in response to speakers changed depending on their menstrual cycle phase (F0 variation, maximum F0, Centre of gravity) and depending on the stimulus speaker’s vocal attractiveness (HNR, Formants 1–3, Centre of gravity), and sex (Formant 2). Also, the vocal characteristics differed when reproducing spoken sentences of the stimulus speakers compared to when they read out written sentences (minimum F0, Formants 2–4).DiscussionThese results provide further evidence that women alter their voice depending on the vocal characteristics of the interaction partner and that these changes are modulated by the menstrual cycle phase. Specifically, the present findings suggest that cyclic shifts on women’s voices may occur only in social contexts (i.e., when a putative interaction partner is involved). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bbccc77dae8a4f7090f97775793f673d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-bbccc77dae8a4f7090f97775793f673d2025-08-20T01:58:55ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782024-12-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.14011581401158Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in womenJanek S. Lobmaier0Wilhelm K. Klatt1Stefan R. Schweinberger2Stefan R. Schweinberger3Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandSigma-Zentrum für Akutmedizin, Fachkrankenhaus für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie, Psychosomatische Medizin, Bad Säckingen, GermanyDepartment for General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, GermanySwiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, SwitzerlandIntroductionResearch has shown that women’s vocal characteristics change during the menstrual cycle. Further, evidence suggests that individuals alter their voices depending on the context, such as when speaking to a highly attractive person, or a person with a different social status. The present study aimed at investigating the degree to which women’s voices change depending on the vocal characteristics of the interaction partner, and how any such changes are modulated by the woman’s current menstrual cycle phase.MethodsForty-two naturally cycling women were recorded once during the late follicular phase (high fertility) and once during the luteal phase (low fertility) while reproducing utterances of men and women who were previously assessed to have either attractive or unattractive voices.ResultsPhonetic analyses revealed that women’s voices in response to speakers changed depending on their menstrual cycle phase (F0 variation, maximum F0, Centre of gravity) and depending on the stimulus speaker’s vocal attractiveness (HNR, Formants 1–3, Centre of gravity), and sex (Formant 2). Also, the vocal characteristics differed when reproducing spoken sentences of the stimulus speakers compared to when they read out written sentences (minimum F0, Formants 2–4).DiscussionThese results provide further evidence that women alter their voice depending on the vocal characteristics of the interaction partner and that these changes are modulated by the menstrual cycle phase. Specifically, the present findings suggest that cyclic shifts on women’s voices may occur only in social contexts (i.e., when a putative interaction partner is involved).https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1401158/fullmenstrual cyclesocial mimicryaccommodationattractivenessphonetics |
| spellingShingle | Janek S. Lobmaier Wilhelm K. Klatt Stefan R. Schweinberger Stefan R. Schweinberger Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women Frontiers in Psychology menstrual cycle social mimicry accommodation attractiveness phonetics |
| title | Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| title_full | Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| title_fullStr | Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| title_full_unstemmed | Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| title_short | Voice of a woman: influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| title_sort | voice of a woman influence of interaction partner characteristics on cycle dependent vocal changes in women |
| topic | menstrual cycle social mimicry accommodation attractiveness phonetics |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1401158/full |
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