| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 5:55:06 AM | Back before the 'crushes' thread got nuked, I mentioned 'voice crushes'...that I think it is possible to have a crush on a guy's voice. In fact, I used to have a male friend who had the beeeeest deep male voice. I wasn't attracted to him in any other respect...and in actual fact he was gay (gay guy with deep masculine voice and bang goes another stereotype), but man....his voice. He would indulge me and talk right into my ear because it gave me chills down my spine. 
Men's voices can have a significant impact on my responses, and of course when you've met someone online there comes that hurdle of the first phonecall ...that whole "please have a nice voice, please have a nice voice" plea to the gods of internet dating. Actually on two occasions several years ago I decided not to take the next step of meeting a dating prospect after hearing the voice. I'm not overly bothered if that sounds odd to anyone else because if the voice is all wrong I feel myself recoiling, and I can't fight it. It just seems to be one of those things that comes with the biological software, and it seems I am not the only female to think so...
...recordings (of male voices) were then played to female judges, who were asked to rate the males' attractiveness, age, weight and height, and to estimate the muscularity of the speaker and whether he had a hairy chest. Men with voices in which there were closely spaced, low-frequency harmonics were judged as being more attractive...
And possibly, unlike with looks and personality traits, there isn't much variance between the types of male voices women seem to prefer...
They showed extremely strong agreement on all judgements. The results imply that there could be sexual selection through female choice for male vocal characteristics, deeper voices being preferred.
So for the female posters...how important is 'voice' in your scale of what attracts you? Would you be put off by a guy with a high pitched voice? A soft-talker? An effeminate inflection?
And what about the guys...does a woman's voice at all factor into whether or not you are attracted to a woman? Would you be put off by a deep voice? A nasally little girl voice? Are throaty voices sexy? Are you even listening to women?
Why Men Don't Listen to Women
He really isn't listening to you! But you won't believe the reason why.
When men and women speak, the human brain processes the sounds of those voices differently, Britain's Mirror and Agence France Presse report of a new study from the U.K.'s University of Sheffield. While most of us actually hear female voices more clearly, men's brains hear women's voices first as music. But it's not music. So the brain goes into overdrive trying to analyze what is being said.
Bottom line: Men have to work harder deciphering what women are saying because they use the auditory part of the brain that processes music, not human voices. Men's brains are not designed to listen to women's voices. It's not the pitch of the woman's voice, but rather the vibration and number of sound waves that cause the problem, notes Discovery News.
But guys have no trouble at all hearing each other because men use a much simpler brain mechanism at the back of the brain to decipher another man's voice and recognize it as speech.
"The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between men and women, and also due to women having greater natural 'melody' in their voices. This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice," lead researcher Michael Hunter told The Mirror.
The research findings were published in the journal NeuroImage
Well that explains how Paris Hilton still manages to get laid in spite of that voice.
Still doesn't explain David Beckham though.
So what say you all about this stuff? ...and please, in your sexiest voice!! | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:14:07 AM | ummm?. could you repeat that in a sweet,lilted, french type english?....
just to compare....
Oz speak can sound a bit monotone at times.... 
(he grunts)... | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:38:36 AM | | I have a deep voice that is apparently sexy. Unfortunately the rest of me doesn't come up to par. But I digress... When I worked in a call centre taking calls for Telstra I was told by a female customer that my voice was sexy and perfect for Serbian folk music! What the? | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:45:36 AM | Namaah, I am the same as you. The voice is in many ways more important than the face (although, having said that ... see below) . I once 'met' a bloke online, we exchanged a few e-mails - he could spell and was funny - I was about to go away for 2 weeks, but we texted each other the whole fortnight, and he asked me to meet him the evening I got home. I got to the rendezvous early so I could see him coming. And then he phoned to say he was going to be late. It was the first time I had heard his squeaky, nasal voice and my heart sank. Despite the fact that he was 6ft 2 (in my opinion the perfect height for a man) and dark and quite good-looking, I instantly knew that there would be zero attraction.
On the other hand, when I worked in West Wales once, I used to talk a lot on the phone with our printer in Merthyr Tydfil. He had a gorgeous deep musical Valleys voice and when it finally became necessary for me to visit the printworks, I was already half infatuated. Imagine my disappointment when he turned out to be ... actually I don't want to describe him in case it offends any readers who match him ... let's just say, thoroughly unattractive to me, though someone must have loved him as there was a wedding ring buried in the flesh of his finger. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 8:00:55 AM | Bugger,I was thinking this thread might be Naamah pleading insanity to some crazy crime shed committed! lol
Cant say a womans voice is a high priority to me,a vocabulary is more important....not that I can foresee the issue of chasing Paris Hilton away being a problem anytime in the near future! lol | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 1:51:27 PM | Perhaps the sultry sounds of Cath and Kim, or Ms Fran Fine....Ditzy twangy or nasal is quite difficult to get past, I find that if a woman has something intelligent to say I generally listen but with the above there isnt much chance of that, lol (have to wonder if there is anyone out there that can break the stereotype). I generally also struggle to listen to guys with whiny or high pitched vocal structure.
I find that im quite attracted to a huskier female voice,
Rachael Sterling, Joan Jett, Christine McVie, Kathleen Turner
Female newsreaders and especially business news readers.......... I must be the "taget Audience.."
As to mens voices, it begs the question as to why more recently popular male singers have "higher pitched" vocals, if women are more attracted to deeper voices.... | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 2:04:53 PM | | AT last , AT LAST........ a solution to one of my romantic addictions! IT was always his voice that had me melting, not the way he looked, not how rich he was but I'd pay lotsa money just to listen to him on the phone ! Which was a costly thing because he lived so far away and my phone bill shot throuigh the roof. I couldn't work out why I'd get so turned on and now I know it's a relief because sadly the VOICE ain't there for me anymore. Although I could contact him to explain why we are so compatible...? | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 2:13:54 PM | Great more competition!!! We all want men with deep voices too? ffs!
I must admit I adore an Alan Rickman,deep, timbery voice (purrs) but when I think about womens voices, the likes of Lauren Bacall come to mind as being sexy...is that because her voice is deep too? Are men a little intimidated by a woman with a deep or husky voice I wonder? | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:31:58 PM | Ok, I'll admit it. The voice is a BIG factor with me. Probably more than looks because I like to listen rather than perve while she's talking.
I can't stand a Kath and Kim bogan style way of saying things (chardonnay my arse... and it's not noice), especially if they have the nasal harmonics that should theoritically shatter crystal to boot.
I can admit that there have been times where my brain simply shuts off if someone sounds like that, regardless of what they're saying.
In regards to the accent thing, I can agree. While there's no one accent that does it for me over another, I have noticed that many women LOVE voices that are different, probably because its a bit of a novelty.
But in any case it serves me well, I'm half Scot, and when my guard is down (ie when I'm p1ssed... hahahaha yes a drunk Scot, who'd have thought), I speak with an accent.
And regardless of whether my guard is down or not, I speak with a Dutch twang (the other half of me is Dutch... pretty screwed either way I look at it aren't I!!  ) Throwback to growing up in a very Dutch family I suppose.
To make matters even worse, when I'm with my South African friend, we speak a hybrid of Dutch, Afrikaans (the two are very similar) and English... Complete with accents. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:43:39 PM | I have a thing for certain male voices. I fell in love with Patrick Stewart's voice when my ex insisted I watch Star Trek with him. I would close my eyes and dream.................OMG.
Apparently I have the ability to put men into some type of trance whilst talking on the phone to them. One guy kept saying the same thing over and over again.................LOL.
Trouble is they create an image of me in their minds and I know that I will eventually disappoint. So perhaps I won't talk to anyone anymore just meet them.................. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:58:58 PM | Good post Naamah.
When I was first out of my marriage I dated a guy with a voice that should have been on radio. In fact, in a smaller town he lived in years earlier, he was a guest caller to the radio station there each morning – just so the women could hear his voice.
But it gets better – he was an identical twin and his brother lived in another state. Imagine my excitement when I first spoke to his brother on the phone and found that he had exactly the same voice. I couldn’t believe my luck – there were two of them! Lord knows how I managed to hold on to the phone and stop myself dropping my knickers and dragging my arse up and down the carpet.
As for accents, the one that really makes me salivate and my knees go to runny jelly is the canadian one. Years ago when I was in business I had a client who was canadian who used to call to put in orders. He would start out pleasant but then get increasingly frustrated because I always made him repeat everything twice……then thrice……..over and over…….. just to make sure I had got it right. Poor man – must have thought I was ‘special’. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 4:09:03 PM |
hold on to the phone and stop myself dropping my knickers and dragging my arse up and down the carpet.
Ummmm..... eeew  If someone did that to me while I was talking to them I would probably stop talking right there and then. (Granted, there's every chance that'd be because I was getting in the car to go see them) | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:02:01 PM |
Bugger,I was thinking this thread might be Naamah pleading insanity to some crazy crime shed committed! lol Sorry to disappoint you there Mikey. I could probably scrape together some material for that sorta thread though.
Great more competition!!! We all want men with deep voices too? ffs!
I guess if the right guy had the wrong voice we could get him one of those voice modifier thingies for Christmas.
I wonder whether men would HEAR better if we sang to them then!
Good thinking! Actually my husband used to often sing his side of conversations with me. I used to tell him that living with him was a bit like being in a musical...you never knew when someone is gonna break into song. I always assumed he was being playful, but based on that bit of research, well, maybe it just helped the poor bugger get in a frame mind where he could understand me.
Has anyone else ever noticed they have a 'business voice'? Back when I used to work in offices, if my Dad called my work and I answered the phone he wouldn't recognise my voice...and even now my brother tells me I have a certain voice that comes out when I am on the phone to a client or a student. The rest of the time I talk like a 10 year old. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:26:37 PM | Has anyone else ever noticed they have a 'business voice'? Back when I used to work in offices, if my Dad called my work and I answered the phone he wouldn't recognise my voice...and even now my brother tells me I have a certain voice that comes out when I am on the phone to a client or a student. The rest of the time I talk like a 10 year old.
Buggar Naamah.. I don't think I can post honestly on this thread now...without...
ducking and breaking into ... dean martin tunes.. so.. you don't get upset..
One of the things I really didn't like as a kid.. was phone voices..
ie.. people using their normal voice.. or yelling...... etc..
then the ph rings.. and all of a sudden they sound ... just wonderful..
but very different... pretentiousness.. (and I'm not saying a business voice.. or proffessional voice..cause.. well that's business..
but those who put on airs/graces.. unrealistic of themselves..
Re your males/voices.. attractions?
I had a thing for accents when younger....
And radio.. Id hear male/female.. with adorable voices...... and was 90%
disappointed if I saw a pic of them.....they usually had great heads for radio...
So I never had a crush on a voice again... But I say this..... some peoples voices are their beauty... like for some it is..their face or heart.. or thinking.. etc..
You can tell alot about a persons health.. their pysche.. and their emotional maturity.. just from their voice..
I'll forgo .. the egs I woulda given.. .. re people who talk childlike..
you wrote...
The rest of the time I talk like a 10 year old
FRom memory.. I didn't perceive you sounding like a 10 year old.. so regardless of you saying that.. I'm not including you.. in.. the 'childlike voice'...
Where It can indicate emotional maturity..
Its a very obvious voice..... and you just know they have a stuffed toy.. in their room..
Its mostly in women...
But now you have me thinking... do men use that voice also?
I know Ive met one man who did.. but only in closenee.. not publicly..
And he was probably emotionally immature.. in ways.. and yes He liked stuffed toys..
hmmmmm....thinking..now..
so do women not like the softer spoken effeminate ..male voice?....or the male childlike voices.. or just less masculine?
To be honest I don't really remember male voices much anymore.. once I got over the radio .. reality.. But mumblers.. in males.. drive me nuts..
soft/mumble with an accent.. and I need an intepreter..
Health.. re women deep husky..throaty voices.... well.
unless it's genetic... .. or hormonal..... its usually an indication of vocal cord damage..
which could indicate..health.. and or smoking/drinking..
such as Janis Joplin.... bonnie tyler?... etc..
men.. Jimmy Barns.. Rod stewart.. Jon English...etc..
If you looked in their back grounds.. you would probably find.. vocal cord damage..
If a speaker /singer dose'nt rest their cords.. or maintain vocal hygeine...
They can damage their cords/range
Buggered if I know why some people find vocal cord damage sexy...
maybe because its an imitation of.. whatever the qualities are attracted to in deep?
deep is different in males to vocal cord damage...
do we associate male hormones?....masculinity..... with deepness?
Are men a little intimidated by a woman with a deep or husky voice I wonder
maybe some guys.. know ... sub conciously it can..indicate ill health in a women?
I dunno.....maybe it makes her sound more tough? masculine?..
I know if I meet someone.. with a sweet voice.. I tend to want to be the nicest person I can be... ... maybe that's from being taught by nuns..though.. or really small kids.. sorta want to protect innocence?
Me..... Ive lost vocal cord range.. and .. used to be on the deeper/huskier side...no idea....and I've lost vocal range.. tone/pitch..
how deep or how husky now.. it still is... but what range? .. depends on.. also if I talk when they're strained.. or if I drink heaps of water.. ( I don't make much.. salvia.. which protects the cords)..
or get enough sleep... etc...
Im a smoker...that usually changes.. your voice overtime.
isnt it true.. if you smile when you answer the ph... .. its picked up on by the other person... so they feel good?... but that's a ph marketing.. strategy..
peace | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 6:28:32 PM | | I know what you mean by a 'business' voice. I'm not much good at it but I have to deal with the wife of a co-worker sometimes on the phone and she is the ultimate "I am so much better than you' person and it comes thru in the voice, which instead of being a friendly response to someone she knows works with hubby , comes across as "WHO did you say you were? OH, someone from Nevil's little thing, that radio station." ( Real names were not used ) but I find myself replying in a very uppity voice. What really helps is she's not too bright and doesn't 'read' voices well and doesn't realise she's being subtly one upped. OH, I'm an awful person I am I am. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 8:10:17 PM | I had one of those Indian Mahatmacoat's from a call
centre ring me a couple of weeks back. couldn't work
out a word he was sayin, so let him ramble on for a
few minutes. When he stopped I replied in my best
Donald Duck impersonation. After about 10 minutes
of senseless quacking, I stopped to catch my breath.
There was a short pause.......then the voice on the
other end asked......."pardon?"
So I started my Donald Ducking again.....then he
hangs up!........How rude?
 | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/7/2009 9:47:07 PM | I have to admit to having a 'telephone' voice too. Purely for business purposes of course
Strangely, I also have a different voice when talking to animals or titchy humans! Something about them renders me into a state where I can only talk in a gooey manner! | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/8/2009 6:57:04 AM | We generally higher our pitch when talking to children....I am often secretly agast at the stupid voices adults use to their children and in the next breath telling their children off for speaking in a baby voice....well go figure. I am currently on a campaign to re educate my eldest from using a baby voice whenever she wants something....very irritating, highly manipulative and in the end it will lose it's effectiveness and irritate the bejasus out of her partner as well...she is 20.
As for chocolate brown voices...the true Roy Orbsons....I have often noticed that they come complete with short plump men...almost like a compensatory genetic trait to balance the less desirable ones...unless of course like me you like plump. My mother's husbands had the darkest chocolate brown voice both in singing and speaking. Heads would turn like some mexican wave when he talked. Even myself would feel a bit jelly like despite the weirded out incest acknowledgement.
Am reminded of the experiment with frogs where the smallest was given the deepest croak and the female frogs practically gang raped him. So does kissing frogs in hope of princes correlate to vocal pitch?
As for my voice, mezzo, plum in mouth accent...it amuses me that aussie men either adore or utterly hate it...don't you just love prejudice. I find that over the phone I give an impression of some serious, tall, high minded. blue stocking matriarch....very very useful when dealing with beaureaucracy (arghh spelling is obviously high pitched and needs singing). and I take great amusement at the shock on peoples' faces when they finally meet me.....daft, short, disparate minded, black stockinged socialist (with a small s).....very very useful when dealing with the general public.
Whilst I refrain from dropping my knickers and utterly refuse to drag my arse across the carpet...(due to regular worming and the real risk of botchellism cos washing floors and carpets are for servants and OCD nuts) I will admit to the instantaneous turn on button from a french accent. Conversely I have an unbalanced, much thought about, adverse reaction to most American accents. I have come to the conclusion that it is in actual fact due to watching cartoons as a child and subconscious I still cannot take that voice seriously. ....mia culpa, mia culpa mia maxima culpa. In conclusion I am an ashamed accentist...no american, no birmingham (worst in world), I struggle with south african and aussie strine especially with the upward inflection to end sentences makes the birmingham accent almost bearable. My own accent is not actually a genuine english accent, it developed during the early 1800 with the upperclass wishing to sound cosmopolitan, avant garde...ergo french...go figure
Just once I would like to hear a professional jockey with a deep voice....honestly I reckon they torture their testicles....those voices are ridiculous. Anyone remember the goons and the silly voices. One squeaky, nasally clipped, baby intonated voice was actually immitated from 6foot redheaded Scout leader that I think Peter Sellers heard, One can never tell. Pass me another frog, this one squeaks | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/8/2009 3:35:59 PM | Gosh Greying red, looks like we have more in common than just hair colour! I too am accentist and agree totally that the Birmingham or indeed entire midlands accent is dreadful! I am also averse to American accents. South African or afrikaans is another one that I can barely tolerate. Liverpudlian starts to grate after a while too, I always imagine curly perms and shiny track suits on hearing that particular accent.
Myself being originally from the Mother country (southern end) or dahn sarf as a****ey might pronounce it.
I also have a habit of talking in various accents and dialects, this usually becomes more pronounced when alcohol is involved - Lawks a lordy- can't think why! | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/8/2009 8:04:53 PM | ^^^^^ yup also have problems not imitating strong accents during conversations and some words just sound so much better in certain accents. Calamari sounds marvelous with a liverpudlian accent....Eff off is more emphatic with a Newcastle UK accent. There are times even now when judging the situation that I drop the dahn sarf, it sets others (particularily bogans) at ease, prevents preconcieved notions and prejudices associated with Posh UK and I prefer my teeth in my mouth and not on the floor. I find myself judged just as I inadvertantly judge others...my accent is synonimous with privelege..hunting, shooting and fishing and farthar has a jaguar and he dwives it wahver fatht....couldn't be further from the truth.
Think the nicest aussie accent is the Tasmanian...gentle. Have to say there have been some phonecalls from POF members and immediately I hear their voice.....nah, no way, sorry sweetie but NO. Intelligence does not adhere to one particular accent but it does tend to preclude bad diction and vocabulary. It's official I am a snob with no adult background to support it | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/8/2009 8:20:13 PM | | I was born in Walsall and whenever I heard the rellies speak I gave thanks for my Aussie accent. I really love Cornish and welsh accents. | |
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| The voices made me do it...
Posted: 11/8/2009 9:49:25 PM |
Actually my husband used to often sing his side of conversations with me. I used to tell him that living with him was a bit like being in a musical...you never knew when someone is gonna break into song. I always assumed he was being playful, but based on that bit of research, well, maybe it just helped the poor bugger get in a frame mind where he could understand me
wow this is me and my partner all over!! i sing all the time instead of talking. in a booming operatic kind of a way. then i talk in a deep husky voice ;-) | |
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