Why Women's Voices Are Getting Deeper
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- Опубликовано: 30 мар 2019
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This video dives into why women's voices are getting deeper, a phenomenon that spans research in 1950s Australia to the 2012 Election in the U.S. Our perception of certain features of other people's voices can lead us to behave in some strange and powerful ways - like voting for people who sound like they have more integrity.
Thanks to Prof. Carolyn McGettigan for her time being interviewed for this video. For more, her Vocal Communication Lab at UCL: www.carolynmcgettigan.com/
More BrainCraft: The Emotions You've Never Heard Of • The Emotions You've Ne...
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Some stock footage provided by Bigstock: bit.ly/bigstock-videofreetrial
Archive footage supplied by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Film Australia Collection
REFERENCES 📚
The social life of voices:
www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
Sounds like a winner: voice pitch influences perception of leadership capacity in both men and women: royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
Have Women's Voices Lowered Across Time? A Cross Sectional Study of Australian Women's Voices: www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Candidate Voice Pitch Influences Election Outcomes: web.as.miami.edu/personal/cklo...
Voice pitch predicts electability, but does not signal leadership ability: www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Power Rankings: knowlegis.net/powerrankings/
Women rate low-pitched male voices as more attractive
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d0a3...
![CENTRAL CEE - GEN Z LUV [VERTICAL VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VIbidJm9q34/mqdefault.jpg)
It REALLY fascinates me that the perception that lower-pitched voices indicate more competence, authority and integrity has led to generations of women lowering their voices when there is *no* data either in the real world or the lab to support this. Also, the change in pitch lowering is tied to the period when women entered the workforce in large numbers.
These beliefs about pitch are somewhat a relic from evolution when pitch *did* indicate size and physical prowess and such (now it doesn't necessarily indicate the size of the person). Anyway, I didn't dig into Elizabeth Holmes any deeper because her _faking_ her voice is somewhat speculative, but if she did you have all the reasons here about why she would do that :p
Thanks for watching!
Possible explanation.
Maintaining a lower voice requires emotional control.
Which is neccessary for propper conduct under pressure.
When I took a linguistics class in grad school, I learned that people shift their pitch higher when they want to be liked, like answering the phone, "Hello, thanks for calling. How can I help you today?" or when telling white lies, "No! Those jeans totally don't make your ass look fat!" which suggests positions of subservience, not dominance or confidence. It's not that people don't LIKE people with high pitch, it's that they don't TRUST their competance or honesty, because a high pitch is a pitch that is just telling you what you want to hear, offering you assistance, not taking control.
@@samiorigami Up Talk
One obvious explanation is that people have gotten significantly taller, is it not?
Is it possible that this is less women's voices deepening generally as a new phenomenon and more the lessening of a phenomenon where women's voices are expected to be excessively feminized?
Next video: Why Anime Girls' Voices Are Getting Higher?
They sond more Cute and there that Cute factor in some Anime Where they need higher voice to sond yougher and cuter...
Higher voice would sond more Mature I fell.
Its male sexual attraction thing
Because the anime industry doesnt make broad-appeal content anymore, their economics have changed alot. That's why there is so much short-run weeb-oriented content these days. The days of the megastar seiyu like Megumi Hayashibara and Sumi Shimamoto and the kinds of roles they used to get seem to be very long gone.
To appeal to the male lolicon fantasy.
Not just anime girls. Japanese girls often talk with a higher voice to sound kawai. In Australia a group of Japanese girls asked me to take a photo of them at the beach with the most kawai voices you can imagine. Later while walking I passed behind them and when they were talking amongst each other their voices were pretty deep
I'm not quiet - my voice is just so low it's outside the range of human hearing. It's how I project dominance
So that's why the ground starts vibrating when I T-Pose
What?....I can't hear you....did you say something?
Such a chad
Me too. When I talk no one hears, but soon there will be elephants and lions gathering around.
Haha! This comment though. 😂
I myself have a deeper voice, but I notice I tend to automatically talk in a higher pitch when in social situations except around my close family and friends. I also use my deeper voice when speaking my native language, but raise it when speaking English. How curious. Also, I LOVE the style of the video! 😍 The drawings, representation, props, everything!
I think because having a deeper voice makes us sound more serious or unhappy.
That’s why I also talk in higher pitch in social settings. People would usually avoid you if they think you’re unhappy or always serious, as they prefer more happy jolly person.
If I’m talking to my family I actually use my normal voice (deeper).
I use a deeper pitch when I speak French but higher with Spanish and English
I use a more high pitched voice when speaking foreign languages
Interesting, I speak high in Spanish and lower in English yet both are my native languages, but in languages I’m learning I talk a bit higher
I also speak in a higher pitch when talking in English! Also, I noticed that when I speak in my native language (Brazilian Portuguese) I seem to vary my tone and pitch more while talking, while on English I kind of speak in a "constant" way, if that makes sense? Like, in Portuguese I make "different voices" to emphasize different parts of my speech (?)
My customer service voice is wayyy higher than my natural voice
Haha, same. It becomes most apparent when I greet someone before realising I know them.
"Hiii....oh it's you.' :')
Guy here and same here
Same lol
UtahAtheist, YES! 😂
I’m more attracted to higher pitched feminine voice just like woman are attracted to lower manly voice
My question is are women adopting a more natural pitch now than in previous generations? Like, maybe in the past women intentionally spoke with higher-pitched voices because they were more focused on being attractive to get married, but now that careers are more of an option for them, they can just speak more normal, which is a comparatively lower-pitched yet natural voice for them?
Partly, yes! Babies are born with the instinctive knowledge of how to breathe and project from their diaphragms-- it's why they can cry so loudly. Speaking from your diaphragm gives you more breath support, and the sound has a larger cavity to resonate in, lowering the pitch and timbre.
Men generally continue to speak from the diaphragm as they age, but at least when I was little, women were kind of "passively trained" out of it. Nobody ever told me, "speak from your upper chest, it's more feminine!", but both other children and my parents and teachers mocked me as a little girl for my deep gruff voice until I figured out how to speak more softly and in a higher pitch.
It's actually not good for you. You can't project properly, you have to be retaught good singing technique, and there's an honest to god real link between breathing from your upper lungs and heightened anxiety. (It's impossible, for example, to have a panic attack while breathing from your diaphragm, as you physically cannot hyperventilate.)
It's fascinating because nobody around me has ever mentioned it and I don't think any of us decided to do it as a group. I doubt most people of any gender could even explain how they do it. Yet I've noticed this shift from the late 90s onwards, becoming the norm in the last ten years in the UK.
I think that's more likely to be the case.
I was thinking this, too.
Feminism as applied to vocal cords?
Very very plausible. But there could be lowering with some people, I'm not saying majority, but some
women's voice naturally deepen with age so idk why you would think Margaret Thatcher and the queen purposely deepened there. unless they have said such
This is true, though Thatcher had voice training to potentially should less shrill, and the Queens accent changed slightly in her Christmas address to sound more like a "commoner"
@@braincraft There is also another good reason: PROTEIN intake
-> The improvements on food and health not only make people taller, but also bigger in all other aspects (so the median volume of all women´s throats must have increased, making their overall voices deeper).
BrainCraft I personally think a higher pitched female voice sounds much nicer. I have always hated my deep(ish) voice and listen to older recordings of women (with high pitched voices) with great envy.
Angie Baby here in Italy we have plenty of eastern europe ladies that work and live here, and it’s curious the fact that they have their voice pitch getting higher and higher with age, not lower. Elderly Ukrainian or Latvian ladies talk with ultrasounds, while their younger daughters have an average lower pitch. It’s peculiar of east Europe. Italian, French, German ladies don’t behave like that, it’s a strange phenomenon, maybe something genetic.
@@Lasergun74 I think it's a cultural thing. In countries where women have a more traditional role, dress more feminine, etc, they'll speak a little higher. Japan does that to an extreme. Women speak in super high pitch, childish, cute voices. In places where women are competing more with men for jobs and stuff, women's pitch will be a bit lower. Generations also have cultures of their own. It's totally possible for women in older/younger generations to be unconsciously aiming to project a different kind of personality.
parents: it's because you're always on your damn phone
oh we're using our made up names my mom just told me that because I had a headache 😂
🤣🤣 my favorite go to with my kids .... we love that jab
🤣🤣😅
lol relatable
Lmao
it's funny, watching old 1950's movies and the women's voices are so high pitched. i think ''no woman talks like that nowadays'' lol
rosie x I will just take my high pitched voice and leave 😂
i like to think it happened because of style and for no other reason. Its close to being like an accent, it can be fancy then adopted, then sometimes someone inherits it unintentionally and dont even notice it until someone points it out. Voice recording began in the "stylish" era, we havent heard female voices way before the "modern times" so we dont really have enough data to analyze what could be influencing the change - is it in the evolution of the generation or influenced by the fashion of the era?
@@angela.luntian though not all women had their voices recorded.
@@Andrew-on3vc true. we still dont have enough data either way
Every women I meet has a high pitched voice lol
I realized that I unvolontarily change the pitch of my voice depending on my mood : when I am happy, joking, etc I use high pitch, but the more annoyed and angry I get the lower my voice get.
Am I the only one ?
You never noticed This?
@@Josue-mv2fo Well I realized on my own a few years ago that I was doing it, but after maybe ten years without knowing.
And I didn't notice other people were doing this, but then again I never really paid attention
@@crezychameau
I allways knew about this (having adults yell at me all the time) so I'm kind of suprised you never knew this
That's pretty normal
I noticed that years a go as well, when I'm with my husband my voice gets higher pitched but with friends or co-workers it's my regular deep. The less I know the people the more deep it gets as I am short and not very intimidating.
There are waaaayyyyyy too many variables to confirm your theory.
> voices get deeper with age
> sound quality of old footage
> the assumption they have been using their natural pitch in the past
Sorry but nah...
Facts
Agreed.
there are also physical confounds that would correlate to the "deepening over time" observation... the size of women from the countries mentioned has also increased. a taller woman is likelier to have a longer vocal tract and therefore have a deeper voice. :/
@@_sourgrapes_ Interesting point!!
Came to say that. Women's voices deepen over time rather than all at once like men. Since learning that fact I really start to notice it and wonder why it wasn't obvious before. Not a manly deepening like one might think, but more "womanly" and "mature".
Just a thought: what if women’s deeper voices reflect a change in personal confidence? I have noticed my voice runs deeper to baritone when I feel more in control, and more tenor when I’m asking for a favor.
David Similar to how dogs lower their voice when asking for food or when they are scared 🧐
@@alexandercrush 😂😂😂sorry but I couldn't keep myself. Wtf whu dogs hahahha
yes correct
Thats a manipulation by the way
Manipulation implies intent. My statement was an observation of an unintended behavior. I’d honestly prefer to keep my voice baritone all the time.
*The pitches of 50-100 years ago might also have been artificially high for similar reasons.*
@SunnyFish "Artificial" as in forced to be a higher or lower pitch by the person speaking
Don't voices get lower with age?
username yes. I’m only 30 and have a naturally deep voice for a woman. I can only imagine how deep it will get.
I think it's because your vocal folds thicken as you age. But you can artificially lower it also.
I dont really agree. People around me haven't deepened their voices as they've aged lol
I’m gonna sound like a man when I’m old if that’s the case
Yes they do. It may not always mean going from a high to low pitch, so the difference isn't always noticeable, but yes is still the answer!
Try comparing pitch vs height of women over the decades. Last I remember, the length of our windpipes affect our base tones.
Yeah it's probably women growing larger from better nutrition + epigenetics
that's a very good point, actually! it could also be good to compare the voices of women who live in countries where people have a shorter average height against those who live in places, where people are generally taller and take a peek at the learnt cultural qualities of their voices.
That explains why my voice is high. I'm a bit on the short end of ladies.
Yeah, women seemed to be very short back then. Even Audrey Hepburn was only about 5'9" and was made fun of or was insecure being so "tall"
@@Demi.d3mi Is 5'9" considered normal now? I'm about 5'2" or 5'3".
I can never decide my pitch. I sound like 20 different people, I'm trying to choose just one. Deeper is best I think. People respond with more respect and understanding.
I see myself as different people too and my highest voice is so high that it's comparable to a black person singing but my lowest voice is so low it's comparable to a black person being pressingly assertive
@@ichheieelsenorandorayashi4824 This comment makes no sense at all.
@@ichheieelsenorandorayashi4824 Why “blank person” ?
It's because it's seen as more masculine. People don't respect true femininity in our modern culture.
I've found that here in Ireland, teenaged girls tend to have lower pitched voices than in England. And also lower-pitched than any American girl/young woman I've ever met. Anecdotal, but shows that it's likely regional too.
And I know I certainly use a higher-pitched, more 'feminine' voice if I'm talking to a man who's angry or has a position of authority over me. It's means I'm less likely to get into trouble or yelled at, as when I speak in my natural pitch they seem to take it as insolence or rudeness.
A P M it relies on what type of conversation i am having or just situation.. in a more serious type of situation my voice is lower.. though it also relies on the language i speak.. in dutch i tend to have a tiny bit of a higher pitch than i do where if i speak english my voice goes lower..
A P M Interesting. Lionesses do something like that to angry lions too. It’s a sort of placation tactic a lot of female mammals think to do instinctively in the presence of angry males.
Huh..I actually tend to speak lower when it comes to men when they are upset. I feel like they will listen better when I say things to calm them down. And with the perceived more competence they will trust what I say too. I just find it interesting :o
Northern Irish men and women have very high pitched nasal voices
@@alexojideagu I'm a northern Irish woman my voice is quite husky and deep as no one hears me half the time
I think Japan is an exception to this trend. "Kawaii" -- cuteness -- is such an important aspect of their culture (which seems weird to me as an American, but you know, different culture) that often women will intentionally put on a higher-pitched voice to seem "cuter".
It definitely is - I didn't have time to include this, though some researchers have spoken about countries with greater measure of equality for women in the workplace - like Denmark - having closer vocal pitch in men and women than countries that are further down that scale - like Japan.
BrainCraft
That's a really good point, Japan ranks very poorly on the gender-equality scale. Hmmm, i never even thought of that, ty!
Weebs too
My perception (from Brazil) is that women will raise their pitch in situations of professional subordination (like attending phone calls as a secretary), but tend to lower when they're the one in charge, like being an authority on a subject in front of an audience (at least serious, gender-neutral subjects) or a candidate for some political position. The aspect of perception of competence is very likely derived from children (who can't be put on charge of anything, except in comedies of questionable taste) having very high pitched voices, and adults lower, so it puts women in a naturally disfavorably position in this "subliminal" perception of maturity. I also have this gut feeling women will also subtly lower their pitch when sexually interested in someone, seemingly unconsciously.
Interestingly, Japan also has fewer (but certainly not none) women seeking total equality with men. I think a lot of them see the impossible demands on men in work life and are trying to balance progress while protecting their own mental health from the kind of life that leads so many people to karoshi (working to death, including suicide). General life as a mother still has a lot of power and control in Japan, with a lot of housewives controlling the home life (essentially their own lives), finances, property, etc. The notion of gender equality is kind of scary because it means abandoning that power to seek another power that many find futile (ironically, due to inequality).
It's a complex situation, but Japan's embracing of cute culture by women (as opposed to by men in anime or games, where girls can be treated like "waifu" material for the audience) is somewhat of a backlash against Western femininity equating strong women to traditionally masculine qualities.
"Parasite singles" were a thing, after all (though, to be clear, they were a small subset of the growing populace, much like hikikomori today, rather than an indication of a dominant trend--trend nonetheless it was).
Again, though, Japan's situation is complex. Their feminism took influence from the West, but the biggest wave of Feminism in recent-ish history in Japan was pioneered by Raichou with her "Seitou" (Blue Stocking) magazine, who acknowledged a need for more freedom of choice, but also re-affirmed cultural and semi-biological "duty" as a strength and sense of unique power given to women that men couldn't intrude upon.
I guess you can probably make some comparisons to some forms of arabian and islamic Feminism that re-affirm modesty in dress as a positive Feminist quality rather than a weakness or a product of their patriarchical society (even if it had roots in it).
Didn't the trend in old Hollywood be for women to RAISE their pitch? How much is it women dropping their voices, and how many women are ditching the high pitch voice?
People of color and people who work in customer service all know about changing their voices to seem more acceptable. Would love to see what these studies have to say about that.
I don't really try to make my voice one or another, but I do seem to subconsciously change my pitch from time to time, situation to situation. I have a good singing range, and that makes me able to pull it off very easily. With people I consider my elders, parents, relatives, aunts and uncles, my brother, I try to be very sweet and high pitched. This is true for my boyfriend too. When I'm speaking with friends, I'm speaking in my normal voice. When I'm trying to speak formally, my voice is deep and firm. It changes a lot really. I didn't realise till I started listening to my call recordings and videos.
Its called code switching
Actually, no. It was the opposite. Old Hollywood wanted their actresses to lower their pitch that's why women took up smoking - Gene Tierney and Vivien Leigh did that because they were taught to dislike their girly voices. It also had to do with the sound quality that was not as good as nowadays, a high pitched voice could be difficult to deal with.
Have you ever wondered what made Lauren Bacall so appealing? She had the ideal voice, low and sultry.
@@Riverious The Transatlantic accent is the one to blame for the nasally tone, not a high pitch training. The trend of the time was to lower the pitch and actresses took up smoking to get that low sultry voice.
K T Some actresses spoke in a high pitched, squeaky, almost babyish voice and I got the impression it was intended to be youthful and “sexy”. Other women did the exact opposite snd spoke in an unnaturally deep, gruff voice in an attempt to be sexy. There was a while there where it seemed like Hollywood was convinced an actress couldn’t have a normal voice and still be sexy. I never understood it. On top of that, a lot of the little girls spoke in an ultra cutesy, and fake sounding “little girl” voice, as if they weren’t really little girls and were just doing an impression. In general, the voices of most women in movies from the 50’s and earlier seemed very artificial. It doesn’t ruin the experience for me, but it definitely distracts me from the dialogue sometimes.
When I became very stressed in life my adrenals became weak and i had high cortisol for awhile but when I became depleted in cortisol my DHT went up.. its an androgen. I noticed my vocal pitch became deeper. Something to consider about stressful lives becoming increasingly more common
If we are lowering our voices over generations, aren't you assuming that women are high pitch by the default? How are they getting deeper if they are going to a natural range versus an artifical one?
Maybe what we call a natural pitch wasn’t a natural pitch for women then
Yes lower-pitched voices indicate authority and maturity same as tall persons are seen more competent than smaller. This means as we go farther from *children-like* qualities such as high pitch it indicates experience and maturity.
Edit: the above is psychological and doesn't mean every single small and high pitched person is immature.
I'm a 30-year-old man who has a relatively high pitched voice.
@@The482075 Yes one can have high pitch.. the video is about women lowering their pitch knowingly to sound more authoritative.
Additionally, stress restricts the air passages, making upset people speak in a higher pitch. In the mammal brain this triggers a ‘danger alert’ state. It’s uncomfortable. A lower pitch indicates a calm and relaxed person which indicates confidence. Of course it’s evaluated as positive.
There is also intonation and inflection to consider, especially in the west. Questions end in an uplifted pitch. If someone speaks at a higher tone it can sound as if they are constantly asking questions- indicating a lack of confidence.
Humans like other humans to be calm, confident, and in control. It is no wonder and no secret that we would perceive those qualities as leadership potential- because they Are.
@@heidikindon5182 yes nice addition.
They’re also less annoying to listen to on recordings and tv.
No woman should every try to be like Ms. Theranos.
yep she's a sociopath
😂😂😂
Thanos
Agreed
My first thought was the “server voice” vs my “friend voice”
It makes my friends laugh when they see me at work because my server voice is soooo different 😂
Alternative, or possibly concurrent explanation:
People unconsciously use a lower pitch when they feel more comfortable and "in control", and a higher pitch to signal distress/helplessness.
I hope people don't start the trend of being critical of something as simple as a womans voice pitch. My voice has always been deep and growing up my teachers have always picked me to read long paragraphs because they enjoyed hearing my voice, I never tried changing it, never thought about changing it. Now I fear people are going to start judging women like myself as "try hards" and whatever other label they can come up with that represents _unlady like._ Also, majority of people from my experience *hate* listening to shrill valley girl voices, so the more women work to correct it the more there'll be less people who will hate listening to them. Just as a person with a thick accent works to correct it so people will listen to them.
People have been judging women on the pitch of their voice forever unfortunately.
Fellow low voicer here & I've had the same experience with the teachers liking your voice thing! :)
Am curious now ...I wanna hear your voice so bad. 🥲
I also have a low voice and people have called my voice seductive and sexy they always want me to read😂
People either low-key orgasm when I greet them on the phone or they get insecure af and start bashing my femininity, wish is mostly men 🙄
I can say, as a person who uses different personalized voice for each situations, it's true different voice pitches have great different effect on people.
I used high pitched and soft vowels so that people feel superior to me, therefore trusting me to be naive enough to relate to child-like feelings inside them. It also gives them some freedom to have fun and joke with me as they are comfortable, giving them the opportunity to be themselves because I seem to be the person who 'talk before she thinks' and more understanding that sometimes we don't mean what we speak.
Lower pitched and more 'serious'-like conversational tone gives people more confident that I know what I'm talking about most of the time, and that I am willing to listen to their opinions and would 'think before talking'.
That's why I find conversations taxing to me, because I have strong urge to reflect or complement different people, to calm the excited and to provoke the thoughts from the calms. Some may see me as fake person, but hey, at least I don't backstab.
You should look into the voices of women who were raised in cults. Their voices are eerily pitched high.
I wonder if a lower pitch has more about social confidence/status than perceived competence/status. A lot of people will pitch their voices higher when doing customer service jobs or other situations (like engaging with an aggressive mother-in-law) where they are in the submissive role in a social interaction. Likewise, people drop their pitch when in a commanding role, or even when they are in a relaxed environment with friends.
Also, note "baby talk." People instinctually raise their pitch when talking with young children with the exception of discipline. It's a natural part of human social interaction and I think that today's women in American and other western cultures have lowered their pitch in the general public because they are seen and act like social equals.
I wish I could be an equal without forcing my voice to lower.
When you say cult, Harley Quinn and her voice comes to mind.
gypsy roseeeee
It seems very role or context dependant. Japanese woman celebrities (eg Marie Kondo) seem to speak in a high pitch to project youthfulness. Contrast with Korean celebrities where the intonnation often sounds more husky and sultry. Yet that's not how how everyday Japanese or Korean woman sound either.
Japan is Not a Very good country to compare. Women there are striving more to be viewed as Submissive housewifes, because of the very traditional View of man and Woman... So bringing the country up when WE Talk about countrys where Woman strive to gain equal footing with man in workspace ..
I noticed that too. It actually seems like a lot of Asian women have way deeper voices than what is portrayed in the media. I was surprised when I started paying attention to how people talk in different situations.
I've definitely done this on purpose. I've always been jealous of my mom's deeper voice and noticed how she would get a bit of different treatment and people appeared to listen or at least follow better what she would say vs someone similar but with a different tone, like myself for example.
Age difference between your mom and you may be a factor for different treatment. Your voice too may deepen when you get to her age.
That's very interesting, how you noticed the difference when people listened to your mom! my parent's friends and clients (they had a home office) would often talk about the 'lady' that would answer the phone but it was a teenage me, not a grown person. I'm super short though so that eliminates any advantage of having a deep voice ):
Aella Lee I noticed this in, of all places, the actresses cast to play the DAs on Law and Order SVU. I so envied Alex and Casey for their deep voices and often thought about how much more commanding of respect such voices are than my higher-pitched one. Sarah Paulson too.
Add Bow If Girl if you are/end up in a labourer type job you may notice it there as well. I noticed it a bit in TV for women in power, and it is really noticable in labour jobs. The sort of "alpha" females in those jobs have a deep voice, although that voice also comes from them smoking too, lol. Could be attributed to added stress when moving up the ladder and then smoke more as they move up.
High voices on girls are really hot
Explains why I speak in a higher pitch in a different language.
Right! It's part of gender performance.
I am Spanish and my voice is high both speaking in Spanish and English. It is so high that I can even pretend I have inhaled helium whenever I want to, lol!
Also, what...does the pitch have to do with where you are from?
I’m 14 and I’m a girl When I play a game that includes a mic people always think I’m a boy cause they say I sound like a boy...I feel insecure about my voice now🥺 people always think a girls voice is supposed be squeaky and soft
I am an adult female with a lower than average pitch voice. I am sometimes self-conscious about it (especially in my late teens and twenties) and definitely don’t feel like having a deeper voice is “normal.” It is sometimes helpful. I look a lot younger than I am, so once I start speaking with a deeper voice, people take me more seriously. It also helps at work that when I raise my voice, I don’t sound shrill.
True! Do people assume you are younger until you start speaking and they change their face like woah an adult and start taking you seriously? That kinda happens to me too
I can literally hear your voice start changing from its normal pitch constantly over the course of the video - almost like talking about this would make you really self-conscious?!
Lower pitched voices on women are hot af
I can confirm that. I'm a 6'2 male and my normal speaking voice is around D2. I've been accepted in most job interviews I've been to, but I'm super insecure and I have some degrees of ADHD, so I never lasted really long on those jobs haha
4:26 Isn't this a bit jumping to conclusions..?
I understand it's very plausible that 'women lower pitch because it appears to be a favourable trait'. But is there actual research that shows it's because of that exact reason? There could be many other factors at play here as well.
Phyrexious yea that’s what I was thinking, maybe this video is just citing one of the reasons idk
One obvious explanation is that people have gotten significantly taller...
It's correlational research so you can draw conclusions but there's no cause and effect so little validity.
I think you are right. But we should not judge brain craft as there is not much research done about it
@@gentleman_of_the_pen actually taller too :) particularly in Holland, people are freakishly tall these days.
I wonder how much of it is women intentionally lowering their voices, though, as opposed to putting less effort into feminizing them. As a counterpoint, if you watch older movies and television, you'll notice that men used to speak at a much lower pitch than is typical now, suggesting that men feel less inclined to specifically masculinize their voices.
Average testosterone levels in men have plummeted since the 50s, this could also very plausibly be the reason men have higher voices, as higher testosterone has been proven to correlate with lower voices.
@mary the sun not a full octave usually. maybe 5 notes lower. i meet boys all the time who speak at my pitch and my younger brother speaks even higher and naturally(tho he is 11)
I love the plants by your desk and your living room setup. Cool brown chair, TV stand and mid-century style metal lamp! Oh, beautiful coffee table, too.
I suspect that some of the data is badly false. Microphones and their frequency response ranges have greatly improved in the last 100 years. You can hear the difference between old radio broadcasts and modern ones. Since the "Journal of Voice" paper relied on recordings of people, the people recorded would have been speaking in a different register for the mics or the mics would have been filtering out more of the low frequencies of the speech patterns, while potentially amplifying the higher frequencies. Also, we don't speak in a single frequency. Various sounds require the voice to range across multiple frequencies and their are higher harmonic frequencies that are created as well.
I've been curious about this for some time and I've been experimenting with myself and other female friends to find some insight into this as well. So far it's been an interesting excercise; apparently we do it whenever we give instructions to others that are"below" our "level" (work-wise)
I'm wondering if the female lowering of pitch is perhaps due to reaching puberty earlier than ever, or perhaps from better nutrition - women are taller than they have ever been. This could probably affect the vocal chords aswell. All just speculation though. Great video!
It is the nutrition, yes. Lots of unnatural chemicals in the food.
Better nutrition? Were peoples nutrition really that bad a few decades ago? I would imagine it was pretty close to todays standards, if anything they probably ate a but cleaner
I reached puberty really soon and my voice isn't low.
I believe it's because of nutrition.. they put hormones in animals so that they grow faster.. We used to eat alot of meat at my home. It could be genetic too. I'm not tall, I think I'm a little below average. I never been overweight or underweight as a kid.
I think I'm the opposite of most women. Like, I tend to talk in a higher pitch with my family and sometimes with friends, but when it's not at home, I tend to speak in a lower tone, and I think both versions of my voice are authentic, I don't even force it.
I have a high voice and I so try to hard to make my voice deeper. It just makes people think I'm mean and unamused, but I honestly prefer that to never being taken seriously
I'd think that a lower pitch coming from a candidate would indicate being more confident. A higher pitch can sound like person is stressed.
This is so cool, because I have a pretty low voice for a woman but I'd never considered that that could be something that was affected by society and stuff. Keep it up with the fantastic videos!
My whole family picked on me for having a Minnie Mouse voice when I was little. So I intentionally lowered my voice so instead they switch to calling me Squidward. They still call me Squidward and I only slip into Minnie voice when I get overwhelmed or angry.
Side note I can perfectly mimic my older sisters voice, so they unintentionally gave me a useless superpower.
But boys love that don't they
great video! very well put together
either women used to be more conscious of their voice and raised their pitch on purpose to be more feminine and now they just speak normally, or they used to speak normally, but are now too calculating and lower their pitch on purpose
I don't think it's quite that simple, because of how environmental factors play into what way of speaking you feel is "normal". Consider British vs American English dialects, both would consider themselves to be speaking "normally".
I tend to speak at a lower pitch to my older clients, as they, generally, can't hear higher pitched tones. This was a very fascinating video. I'll be paying a bit more attention to vocal pitch now.
haha, they certainly can hear your voice. no matter how high.
@@jjc5475 uhm no. Old people can get partially deaf and the higher ranges are often the first to go.
I've noticed when two people are talking at the same time or over each other, it's the lower voices I hear most.
I have always (as learned from my mama) to raise my pitch while answering the phone, or when I call someone to ask for assistance. This is an interesting discussion for the Trans community; as some just cannot control their voice, or make every effort to change it. Thanks for the video.
I’m tried of people acting like “omg your voice is so deep you don’t even sound like a girl” like damn okay
And honestly, as a woman who used to hv high pitched voice, low pitch just feels more natural now. It feels like work now to have my voice high pitched.
I work at a call center. I tend to get better responses when I lower my voice.
I work at a very busy Starbucks with a drive through and I definitely have different voices I use over my headset. I deepen my voice when I have to tell people to wait or anything they don't want to hear, but often my voice goes much higher and quicker. Higher voices are just easier to hear through the intercom and I easily make it sound like I'm smiling even when I'm not. Often my only interactions with customers are through my voice and trying to deal with cranky, picky people (no one's had their coffee yet) as quickly and briefly as possible you quickly learn how to control people through the tone of your voice.
PS : be kind to your baristas! we work hard and are expected to friendly like a bar tender, but take a lot of shit... a friendly word goes a long way
It's the water, guys. The water Alex Jones warned us all about!
*please note this is sarcasm*
😂😜
I'm a woman with an incredibly deep voice. I enjoy singing in choirs. I sing lower than a lot of the men simply because that's where my voice sits. It's kind of insane.
❤
Well you must have one hell of a deep voice to be lower than a lot of men.
I've always intentionally spoken in a higher pitch because i got teased for having a lower-pitched voice than most of the girls around me. Maybe now i can speak more comfortably lol
1:29 I like how you are using a book to adjust the height of the monitor.
I love how speaking in a different language people almost change their voice completely. It happens unconsciously. Wonderful
I’ve noticed I had a medium deeper voice which I used to be so insecure about. So I would use a much medium higher pitch to sound a little feminine but now I’m accepting my low voice and even some people love it as well
I'm the opposite as a teenager; purposely increasing the pitch of my voice so I feel "fit" amongst my female peers.
I've really grown to love my deep(er) voice over the past decade.
I am SO happy that videos like these exist. It makes me feel like i am not the only one who notices such things and makes me realize that when i notice something that others DON'T talk about, it doesn't mean that i am weird and/or wrong ;)
When I was playing Rec Room, some people thought I was a boy playing as a girl, and I felt bad for myself so I had to pitch up my voice. But on youtube I feel more comfortable with my voice because it's more natural.
I have a high-pitched voice and HATE it. If I had to listen to my own voice (in recording) regularly, I would most definitely try to speak in a lower pitch. I think it may have to do with the fact that my voice sounds lower-pitched when I hear myself normally than it does when it´s played back to me and so I think my recorded (ie *real*) voice sounds childish.
You can try to learn how to use your chest voice. I used to speak quite high pitched until I had singing lessons. Once I learned how to use my chest voice and sing with my natural voice my pitch lowered a lot. It's not even a conscious thing, though it can be if I want to.
But hey, high pitch is cute! :)
@Louise Messidor The guys on Good Mythical Morning once mentioned having lowered their voices over time because of similar issues. So I guess it could work.
@@miekekuppen9275 Maybe men deepen theirs and women used to make theirs higher, so it's not just women changing their voices. Men's natural voices may be higher than we think, and women's voices deeper.
@@meepinsnek5313 Also a possibility, I´m sure at least some women have always made their voices higher. Of course men´s vocal cords are undeniably longer than women´s. I´m pretty sure everyone´s voice is higher-pitched than they think and it´s only since people got used to hearing their own voices on recordings that they´ve generally been aware of it. Would be interesting to see it studied.
@@miekekuppen9275 I don't record mine because I think I sound bad :(
"You can calculate the area of a snowflake... for example" [I mean if you're into that, idk] hahaha love your tone there.
I have been noticing it also. I can tell when someone is altering the natural state of their voice, which in turn, when I detect it, I make sure to pay attention to what they are trying to make me see/understand.
Thank you for the video
When you are confident you automatically start speaking slower and with a deeper voice. Vice versa if you are not confident you tend to speak faster and with a higher voice.
That's why. And it's true.
@Miss Yancey You're proving my point
@Miss Yancey You sound pretty upset over such a minor thing. Is everything alright? (That's honestly not meant as a joke)
@Miss Yancey I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it'll change for the better soon.
Maybe women were intentionally making their voices High in the past
People make quick judgements of what they see or hear based on what they know/think, it's not something we can really control.
We can definitely be more aware of it!
@@braincraft true but it would be nearly impossible to change such a behavior as it is not a belief in this case it is a perception. I don't actively BELIEVE people with a higher voice are less capable, but my brain perceives it to be the case.
It may just be as simple as speaking a certain way showing professionalism, is there any reason why a man wearing a suit and tie would be a better businessman? no, but wearing it portray's professionalism, shows you are making an active commitment to be taken seriously in this setting.
Social Behavior is very complicated.
but we can counteract it. first by highlighting it, such as with videos like these, and second by making sure we avoid snap judgement and instead review all the available evidence before choosing something.
In my work, I have to alter my voice in various ways: pitch, tone, speed, clarity, etc., all depending on whom I'm speaking to and why.
When I need to be gentle, to get people in a happy mood or to make them less anxious, my voice will naturally go into the higher notes. Sometimes, it makes people think I'm younger than I really am and they'll be surprised, once they learn what position I actually hold at my job. But it really gets people excited and happy to cooperate with me.
If they are very anxious, my voice will be more soothing, I'll articulate more and talk more slowly. My voice then goes into the "middle tones".
When I need everyone to focus on facts and information, my tone stays in the "middle" range, but I'll naturally speak louder, faster and I'll put the accent on the important words of each sentence.
Finally, if I need to show authority or to get uncooperative people to cooperate, my voice will definitely go into the "lower tones". I'll speak clearly, in a non-aggressive, but firm tone and use very short sentences...
Fun fact #1 : I never yell at anyone. In fact, I consider that yelling at someone is a sign of weakness and that the "yelling person" has actually lost control. It's counterproductive and I never do it.
Fun fact #2 : The Feminist in me wants to say that some men love to point out that women are emotional and incapable of remaining rational under duress... but the number of men who have lost their sh*t in front of me, while I remained perfectly calm and rational makes me laugh, every time I hear it.
i'm not deaf or hard of hearing, but i still usually put on captions for videos that have them just in case i miss a word or something, and while i understand when a couple words are switched around in captions because of differences in the original script or whatever, a lot of the words said in the video are left out or are in a completely different order than what is in the captions-- and the last 3 lines of the video are stretched out over the entire last minute or so, meaning there's no captions for the brilliant spon ad at the end or the patreon shoutouts
i don't mean to just come into the comments to complain (i thought the video was really interesting, especially as a transmasculine individual), i just think having accurate captions is very important
My voice is naturally low
Have had no benefit
I find this hard to believe.
@@OmniaViridis hard to believe it has no benefit or that it's deep? I have a naturally deep voice and all I got out of it is people thinking I'm a guy 😑 especially on the phone. I get called sir all the flippin time, so I try to speak with a higher pitch.
@@MasriBenzBaby I find it hard to believe there's been no benefit from it. A lower voice is dominant, you get people's attention faster. Is there asthetically a purpose for women making their voice higher? Of course, but for practical purpose, it's better to have a lower voice. And just be you, nothing is better than that❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
It’s hard to tell if you’re benefiting from something if you haven’t had to live without it
@@miareason1170 that’s definitely true
I've always thought my voice was too deep. But now I know I'm SUPERIOR! ☺
Becky the brunette with a deep voice as opposed to Hailie the think blonde with high pitched voice.
When I was working in Customer Service I once had to take over the phone from myself and act like I was my own manager. It's complicated, the point is that I lowered my voice by about half an octave and completely fooled the customer into thinking that he was speaking to a different person.
I notice that when I try to be assertive my pitch automatically lowers without realising it, it’s as if I stay in my normal pitch I think people won’t take me seriously when I try to be stern.
I remember making a conscious decision in my teenage years to deepen my voice because I thought that made me sound more mature and smart...
It's true. However, it's not just pitch but resonance. The resonance or fullness of the voice can lead to a perception of an increase in loudness and quality. Matbe this connotes confidence and in turn infers competancy. However, it is true that female TV and radio announcers tend to have lower voices.
Wonderful video, you just got a new subscriber 👍
Dude, this is so fascinating to me, cuz I noticed that I have, as someone who can easily go from contralto to bass range, that people tend to listen to me more than when I try to use my more feminine, second soprano voice. Like, men listen to my words more when I use my natural lower voice, and I noticed that I have more male friends, so I feel much more comfortable with using my natural register than other females do (not merely an observation, I've been told multiple times by my female peers that they wish they were that comfortable around guys, and my male friends tell me how they like that I don't try too hard). It's fascinating to hear why that is.
The topic was treated as if the change is signficant, but when you played the notes on the piano (brilliant touch) I have to say that the difference seems too small to matter in real life situations. At least yet. And this should be something worth discussing, especially after having at least one indicator that this doesn't corelate with leadership.
Let me offer a different spin on the topic. Women's pitch also decreases with age, I assume. Could it be that the average pitch value is influenced by the fact that the percentage of older women in these countries has increased? (higher life expectancy on the one hand and a change in the age pyramid of these countries)
Secondly, I would have really liked to see that compared to the trend when it comes to men.
I got the sickness that is going around and today my voice sounds weird and when I scream it sounds weird I sound like a dying goat 😩
This scares me because I’m not “training” my voice to become deeper. It’s just happening. I don’t think it will go any deeper than this though. The only time my range becomes deeper and groggy is when I’m sick, hoarse, dealing with sinuses or just waking up.
One thing i noticed is when i am trying to get attention in class to make an announcement even if the loudness is same people are more likely to pay attention when i use deeper voice it draws attention easier so I use it often
Lowering my voice to get attention works perfectly! (on my dog)
I love women with slightly deeper voices!!! And sometimes I feel like I sound dumb because my voice is feminine and high pitched
You'll love it as you get older! You'll appear younger for far longer
Superinteresting video, subbed!
I am female with a very deep voice, and I have been mocked for it since I was a kid. In my case, the low pitch does absolutely nothing positive, with professors etc. actually having complained that I should speak more womanly, i.e. "high". Just felt like adding that little anecdote. :)
Anyways, thank you for the video!
I'm not lowering mine, my voice is just naturally deep. I hated it as a kid but I've gotten used to it
So um
Higher pitched voices can be unpleasant. So maybe it's less about percieved dominance, but general tolerability
high pitched doesn't squeaky .
@@PHlophe I didn't say squeaky, but think shrill and grating. Like watch a video of Hillary Clinton yelling platitudes to a crowd and tell me it's the same as hearing Neil Degrasse Tyson speak? Who would you rather listen to reading the phone book: Sam Elliot or Sharon Osbourne?
have you considered why you find higher pitched(read: women’s) voices unpleasant? all the examples of good voices you gave were men’s voices. this is literally the exact problem that the video is talking about. you say it’s not about dominance but you imply that a higher, more feminine, voice is unpleasant. surely this has nothing to do with cultural views about men and women, right :)
Ngl I've noticed that im kinda guilty of using my lower-pitched voice when trying to sound more well-spoken and shit 👀👀👀
That highlighter is so cute! Where did you get it?
I’ve always had a deeper voice, and in general I’ve found that it affects the way people treat me. I’m currently 15 and from the age 11 I would get mistaken as 16 or 17. While it may be from my maturity levels, I’ve had people tell me that my voice is one of the reasons why I get mistaken to be older. I’ve also had guys tell me I’m easy to talk to, even though I have a tendency to tell them to fuck off, because my voice is lower.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is a bad ass congress woman with a tough spine and her voice sounds as high as anime girl
I have always used a lower pitch voice to talk to men in order to get more respect. And my regular relaxed pitch voice to talk to women. Have been doing it for so long that most times I end up forgetting about it. Dope.
When my kids were teens, one of them was constantly in trouble with me. I was getting on to him about something and he said 'Just because you lower your voice doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you.' *rolls eyes*
That child grated on my last friggin nerve lol (an adult now, still living at home. we still butt heads, but not nearly as intensely :D )
Until he said that, I never really realized I did that. Then I started paying attention to my pitch more. And sure enough, if I want to be taken seriously or am "putting my foot down", I speak lower. If I'm speaking with affection, my pitch raises. My normal speaking voice is just a smidge lower than most other women (and I've always sang as an alto).
Interesting...
High Key, Subbed cause I really liked your voice
Your voice gets deeper with age, and menopause makes your voice deeper.
Hmm... speaking of pitch. It seemed like you were struggling to get your words out. Do you intentionally deepen your voice? Just curious. 🤷😊😂
Yeah she sounds like her throat is closed the whole time, coming from someone with huge tonsils and barrett's oesophagus!
Uh, that's just part of Australian accents 😶
It’s crazy how much hate a person can get with a high pitch voice :(some people may think it’s not my real voice but that not for everyone
I don't really try to make my voice one or another, but I do seem to subconsciously change my pitch from time to time, situation to situation. I have a good singing range, and that makes me able to pull it off very easily. With people I consider my elders, parents, relatives, aunts and uncles, my brother, I try to be very sweet and high pitched. This is true for my boyfriend too. When I'm speaking with friends, I'm speaking in my normal voice. When I'm trying to speak formally, my voice is deep and firm. It changes a lot really. I didn't realise till I started listening to my call recordings and videos.