Voice Attractiveness Research Articles

Relating visual and vocal attractiveness for moving and static faces

The relationship between visual and vocal attractiveness in males and females as evaluated by men and women was investigated. Participants rated the attractiveness of voices and static faces or voices and moving faces. Rubenstein (2005. Psychological Science, 16, 759–762) suggested that dynamic and static faces are judged by different evaluative standards. Results from the reported experiment suggest that for male participants there was a positive correlation between female vocal and visual (moving or static face) attractiveness. Women rated with higher voice attractiveness were rated as having more attractive faces. For female participants there was a positive correlation between male vocal and moving visual attractiveness but not between male vocal and static visual attractiveness. In addition, no significant correlation between the attractiveness of male static faces and that of male moving faces was found, highlighting differences in rated attractiveness when judging either moving or static faces (Rubenstein, A. J. 2005. Psychological Science, 16, 759–762). Finally, there was no correlation between vocal and visual attractiveness (moving or static) for same-sex judgements. Results are discussed with regard to perceptual and evolutionary perspectives.

Evidence of Predictive and Incremental Validity of Personality Factors, Vocal Attractiveness and the Situational Interview

This study evaluates the impact of the situational interview, personality measures, vocal attractiveness, and interactions between personality and vocal attractiveness on job performance. In a concurrent validity study with 154 customer service employees, a structured, situational interview was conducted and three of the Big Five personality factors (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion) are measured with two different frames‐of‐reference: at‐work and typical. Among the results are the validity of the situational interview and at‐work personality measures is established; vocal attractiveness correlates with both interview ratings and job performance; and finally, agreeableness and conscientiousness are found to vary in a pattern related to levels of vocal attractiveness such that both personality factors predict performance more strongly for people with more attractive voices.

Association of Digit Ratio (2D:4D) with Self-Reported Attractiveness in Men and Women

Abstract. Prenatal testosterone (PT) may influence attractiveness such that high PT increases attractiveness in men. Here we are concerned with self-perceptions of attractiveness, rather than ratings of attractiveness by others. Our sample was 255,116 participants drawn from an Internet survey. We considered the relationship between self-reported attractiveness and the ratio of the length of the 2nd and 4th digits (digit ratio, 2D:4D), a putative negative correlate of PT. Participants reported ratings on their general attractiveness, and the attractiveness of their face, voice, and body. There were significant effects of sexual orientation on the ratings and we considered only heterosexuals in all subsequent analyses. We found that 2D:4D was negatively correlated with general, facial, and body attractiveness, with the strongest association for body attractiveness. There was no relationship for voice attractiveness. General, facial, and body attractiveness were negatively associated with age and positively related to height (a possible correlate of adult testosterone, AT). However, the 2D:4D relationships were independent of age and height. 2D:4D differs across ethnic groups, but a consideration of only white Caucasians gave essentially the same results. We conclude that (1) high PT, as measured by low 2D:4D, is associated with self-perception of high attractiveness in men and women, and (2) the relationships between height and attractiveness indicate that AT is also positively correlated to self-perceptions of attractiveness in men and women. Thus, high PT and AT may increase body esteem in both men and women.

Vocal and Facial Attractiveness Judgments of Children, Adolescents and Adults: the Ontogeny of Mate Choice

AbstractPhysical traits are thought to be used as indicators of mate quality, allowing individuals to select mates most likely to help them bear the fittest offspring. As the capacity for human sexual behaviour emerges at puberty, we investigated whether adult‐like judgments of the relative attractiveness of opposite‐sex individuals also arise at puberty. Following previous research, we focussed on facial and vocal attractiveness, which are known to be used in human mate choice and to carry concordant information regarding mate quality. Here we show that males with more attractive faces have more attractive voices as judged by female adults and adolescents, but not by female children. This suggests that cues of facial and vocal attractiveness provide similar information, but that awareness of these cues does not develop fully until reproductive capability, when mate choice judgments become relevant. Adolescents’ judgments also mirrored those of adults in that, like adults, they preferred lower‐pitched male voices, and as a group made concordant judgments about facial attractiveness. However, they did not make similarly concordant judgments about vocal attractiveness, suggesting that a further period of maturation and learning is required to fully develop optimal judgments for mate choice.

The voice and face of woman: One ornament that signals quality?

The attractiveness of women's faces, voices, bodies, and odors appear to be interrelated, suggesting that they reflect a common trait such as femininity. We invoked novel approaches to test the interrelationships between female vocal and facial attractiveness and femininity. In Study 1, we examined the relationship between facial-metric femininity and voice pitch in two female populations. In both populations, facial-metric femininity correlated positively with pitch of voice. In Study 2, we constructed facial averages from two populations of women with low- and high-pitched voices and determined men's preferences for resulting prototypes. Men preferred averaged faces of women from both populations with higher pitched voices to those with lower pitched voices. In Study 3, we tested whether the findings from Study 2 also extended to the natural faces that made up the prototypes. Indeed, men and women preferred real faces of women with high-pitched voices to those with low-pitched voices. Because multiple cues to femininity are related, and feminine women may have greater reproductive fitness than do relatively masculine women, male preferences for multiple cues to femininity are potentially adaptive.

Manipulations of fundamental and formant frequencies influence the attractiveness of human male voices

In human voices, low fundamental frequency is thought to be a cue to masculinity and reproductive capability and large vocal tracts are associated with large body size of the speaker. Female preferences for males with low fundamental frequencies and large vocal tract lengths are potentially adaptive. Although sexually dimorphic characteristics of male voices have been studied, the impact of manipulations of secondary sexual characteristics on preferences for male voices has not. We manipulated fundamental frequencies and apparent vocal tract lengths of young adult male voices, both independently and simultaneously, and assessed their impact on female ratings of masculinity, size, age and attractiveness. Lowering the fundamental frequencies and/or increasing apparent vocal tract lengths of male voices increased females' ratings of the masculinity, size and age of the speaker. Peer group females preferred male voices with (1) lowered fundamental frequencies to those with raised fundamental frequencies, and (2) original frequencies to male voices with raised fundamental frequencies and decreased apparent vocal tract lengths (a combined manipulation to reflect acoustic characteristics of 16-year-old male voices). This suggests that male voices with acoustic characteristics that reflect full sexual maturity may be attractive. Although no general preference was observed for male voices with increased or decreased apparent vocal tract lengths, female preferences for male voices with increased apparent vocal tract lengths were positively related to females' own body size. This latter finding may indicate assortative preferences for acoustic cues to body size.

Ratings of voice attractiveness predict sexual behavior and body configuration

We investigated the relationship between ratings of voice attractiveness and sexually dimorphic differences in shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) and waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), as well as different features of sexual behavior. Opposite-sex voice attractiveness ratings were positively correlated with SHR in males and negatively correlated with WHR in females. For both sexes, ratings of opposite-sex voice attractiveness also predicted reported age of first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, number of extra-pair copulation (EPC) partners, and number of partners that they had intercourse with that were involved in another relationship (i.e., were themselves chosen as an EPC partner). Coupled with previous findings showing a relationship between voice attractiveness and bilateral symmetry, these results provide additional evidence that the sound of a person's voice may serve as an important multidimensional fitness indicator.

Vocal and visual attractiveness are related in women

We investigated the relation between visual and vocal attractiveness in women as judged by men. We recorded 34 women speaking four vowels and measured the peak frequency, the first five harmonic frequencies, the first five formant frequencies and formant dispersion. The women were also photographed (head shot), several body measures were taken and their ages were recorded. The voices were played to male judges who were asked to assess the women's age and vocal attractiveness from the recording. The men were then asked to assess the attractiveness of the photographs. Men were in strong agreement on which was an attractive voice and face; and women with attractive faces had attractive voices. Higher-frequency voices were assessed as being more attractive and as belonging to younger women (the lowest frequency produced is a good indicator of age in women in general). Larger women had lower voices and were judged as having less attractive faces and voices. Taller women had narrower formant dispersion as predicted. The results imply that different measures of attractiveness are in agreement and signal similar qualities, such as female age, body size and possibly hormonal profile. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

The sound of symmetry: Voice as a marker of developmental instability

Low fluctuating asymmetry (FA, a measure of deviation from bilateral symmetry) appears to be a phenotypic marker of reproductive viability and health. In the present study, we investigated whether ratings of voice attractiveness were correlated with variations in FA. Several bilateral traits were measured to calculate a FA index and independent raters who did not know and never saw the subjects assessed the attractiveness of recordings of each subject's voice. Voices of subjects with greater bilateral symmetry were rated as more attractive by members of both sexes than those with asymmetrical traits.

Voice and interpersonal attraction

The present study examined the effects of voice and physical appearance on inter‐personal attraction. Furthermore, the attributes of voice that enhance interpersonal attraction were investigated. In the first study the subjects were 25 female students from one university and the target persons were four male students from another university. The subjects rated attractiveness of voice and physical appearance, and the overall interpersonal attraction of the target persons. The attractiveness of voice and physical appearance had independent effects on interpersonal attraction. In the second study the subjects were 62 students (20 males, 42 females) from one university and the target persons were 16 students from another university (eight of each sex). The results of the first study were replicated. Bright, generous voices, low vocal pitch and a small range of vocal pitch increased interpersonal attraction.

Effects of Attractiveness and Maturity of Face and Voice on Interpersonal Impressions

We examined effects of attractiveness and maturity of face and voice on interpersonal impressions. Higher attractiveness, both facial and vocal, resulted in more positive impressions. However, facial attractiveness influenced primarily interpersonal dimensions (extroversion, warmth, and agreeableness) whereas vocal attractiveness influenced primarily more private dimensions (neuroticism and conscientiousness). Higher maturity, both facial and vocal, resulted in impressions of higher dominance and lower warmth and agreeableness. Higher facial maturity resulted in somewhat less positive impressions whereas higher vocal maturity did not. Consistent with this difference, higher vocal maturity was perceived as more attractive whereas higher facial maturity was not. Finally, the effect of a specific quality (attractiveness or maturity) of face or voice was often moderated by other qualities of the same or different channel.

Directional selection on directional asymmetry: testes size and secondary sexual characters in birds

A standard example of directional asymmetry with one side of the body having a larger character value than the other is testes size in many vertebrates. The relation between directional asymmetry in testes size and the expression of secondary sexual characters (a measure of phenotypic quality) in two bird species, the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, and the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, was used to test whether directional asymmetry was subject to directional selection. Testes size, which was positively related to the size of the secondary sexual character, demonstrated directional asymmetry, with the left testis generally being larger than the right testis. The amount of directional asymmetry was positively related to the expression of the secondary sexual character, suggesting that males with the largest degree of directional asymmetry were at a selective advantage, since males with the most extravagant secondary sexual characters have the highest mating success. These relations were not confounded by variables such as body mass, body size and age. Males in poor condition (with small secondary sexual characters) may be unable to develop large degrees of directional asymmetry, and deviations from directional asymmetry may therefore be viewed as a measure of developmental homeostasis.

The attractive voice: What makes it so?

Previous research has shown that more attractive voices are associated with more favorable personality impressions. The present study examined which acoustic characteristics make a voice attractive. Segments of recorded voices were rated on various dimensions of voice quality, attractiveness, and personality impressions. Objective measures of voice quality were obtained from spectrogram analysis. Overall, the subjective ratings of voice quality predicted vocal attractiveness better than the objective measures. When vocal attractiveness was regressed onto both subjective and objective measures, the final regression equation included 8 subjective measures, which together accounted for 74% of the variance of the attractiveness scores. It also was found that the measures of voice quality accounted for variance in favorableness of personality impressions above and beyond the contribution of vocal attractiveness. Thus, attractiveness captures an important dimension of the voice but does not cover all aspects of voice quality.

Physical Attractiveness of Face and Voice: Effects of Positivity, Dominance, and Sex1

We investigated the joint and interacting effects of affect, sex, and nonverbal channel (face and voice) on the perception of physical attractiveness. In both studies we found that positive affects were rated as more attractive than negative affects, regardless of the channel (face, or voice). We also found that dominant affects were rated as more attractive when displayed in the face whereas submissive affects were rated as more attractive when displayed in the voice.

What sounds beautiful is good: The vocal attractiveness stereotype

Two studies examined the effects of attractiveness of voice and physical appearance on impressions of personality. Subject-senders were videotaped as they read a standard-content text (Study 1) or randomly selected texts (Study 2). Judges rated the senders' vocal attractiveness from the auditory portion of the tape and their physical attractiveness from the visual portion of the tape. Other judges rated the senders' personality on the basis of their voice, face, or face plus voice. Senders with more attractive voices were rated more favorably in both the voice and face plus voice conditions; senders with more attractive faces were rated more favorably in both the face and face plus voice conditions. The effects of both vocal and physical attractiveness were more pronounced in the single channels (voice condition and face condition, respectively) than in the multiple channel (face plus voice condition). Possible antecedents and consequences of the vocal attractiveness stereotype are discussed. p]Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.