title: Gender-specific sensitivity to low frequencies in male speech.
abstract: The perception of human voices as naturally occurring sound objects may correspond to the detection of specific components of the frequency spectrum. In the current study, a psychophysical experiment was undertaken to investigate whether male and female listeners differed with respect to which frequencies were important in the perception of a male voice as a natural sound object. For females (but not males) the presence of low frequencies (<220 Hz), but not high frequencies (>4 kHz), was most crucial in the perception of a male voice as natural. This finding could be compatible with a neuroethological interpretation: low frequencies in the range that were studied are important in distinguishing male from female voices and mature from immature male voices.
authors.affiliation: Sheffield Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory (SCANLab), Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, The Longley Centre, Norwood Grange Drive, Sheffield S5 7JT, UK. m.d.hunter@shef.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Soo-Yee
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Phang
authors.forename: Kwang-Hyuk
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Peter W R
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Woodruff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology