Collins SA
Behavioural Biology Section, Institute of Evolutionary & Ecological Sciences, Leiden, The Netherlands
Anim Behav. 2000 Dec;60(6):773-780. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1523.
I investigated the relationship between male human vocal characteristics and female judgements about the speaker. Thirty-four males were recorded uttering five vowels and measures were taken, from power spectrums, of the first five harmonic frequencies, overall peak frequency and formant frequencies (emphasized, resonance, frequencies within the vowel). Male body measures were also taken (age, weight, height, and hip and shoulder width) and the men were asked whether they had chest hair. The recordings 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, older and heavier, more likely to have a hairy chest and of a more muscular body type. There was no relationship between any vocal and body characteristic. The judges' estimates were incorrect except for weight. 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. However, the function of the preference is unclear given that the estimates were generally incorrect. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
我研究了男性人类声音特征与女性对说话者的判断之间的关系。记录了34名男性发出的五个元音，并从功率谱中获取了前五个谐波频率、总体峰值频率和共振峰频率（元音中的强调、共振频率）的测量值。还测量了男性的身体指标（年龄、体重、身高以及臀围和肩宽），并询问这些男性是否有胸毛。然后将录音播放给女性评判者，要求她们对男性的吸引力、年龄、体重和身高进行评分，并估计说话者的肌肉发达程度以及他是否有胸毛。声音中低频谐波间隔较近的男性被认为更有吸引力、年龄更大、体重更重且更有可能有胸毛，身体类型也更具肌肉感。声音特征与身体特征之间没有关联。除了体重，评判者的估计都是不准确的。他们在所有判断上都表现出极其强烈的一致性。结果表明，可能存在通过女性对男性声音特征的选择进行的性选择，较深沉的声音更受青睐。然而，鉴于这些估计通常不准确，这种偏好的功能尚不清楚。版权所有2000年动物行为研究协会。
