title: Control of voice gender in pre-pubertal children.
abstract: Adult listeners are capable of identifying the gender of speakers as young as 4 years old from their voice. In the absence of a clear anatomical dimorphism in the dimensions of pre-pubertal boys' and girls' vocal apparatus, the observed gender differences may reflect children's regulation of their vocal behaviour. A detailed acoustic analysis was conducted of the utterances of 34 6- to 9-year-old children, in their normal voices and also when asked explicitly to speak like a boy or a girl. Results showed statistically significant shifts in fundamental and formant frequency values towards those expected from the sex dimorphism in adult voices. Directions for future research on the role of vocal behaviours in pre-pubertal children's expression of gender are considered.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cartei
authors.forename: Wind
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cowles
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reby
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014831:Voice
keywords: child's voice; formants; fundamental frequency; gender development; voice control; voice development