Shoup-Knox Melanie L, Ostrander Grant M, Reimann Gabrielle E, Pipitone R Nathan
1 Psychology Department, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA.
2 Department of Psychology, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, USA.
Evol Psychol. 2019 Apr-Jun;17(2):1474704919843103. doi: 10.1177/1474704919843103.
Previous research demonstrates that listeners perceive women's voices as more attractive when recorded at high compared to low fertility phases of the menstrual cycle. This effect has been repeated with multiple voice recording samples, but one stimuli set has shown particularly robust replications. First collected by Pipitone and Gallup (2008), women were recorded counting from 1-10 on approximately the same day and time once a week for 4 weeks. Repeatedly, studies using these recordings have shown that naturally cycling women recorded at high fertility are rated as more attractive compared to voices of the same women at low fertility. Additionally, these stimuli have been shown to elicit autonomic nervous system arousal and precipitate a rise in testosterone levels among listeners. Although previous studies have examined the acoustic properties of voices across the menstrual cycle, they reach little consensus. The current study evaluates Pipitone and Gallup's voice stimuli from an acoustic perspective, analyzing specific vocal characteristics of both naturally cycling women and women taking hormonal contraceptives. Results show that among naturally cycling women, variation in vocal amplitude (shimmer) was significantly lower in high fertility recordings compared to the women's voices at low fertility. Harmonics-to-noise ratio and variation in voice pitch (jitter) also fluctuated systematically across voices sampled at different times during the menstrual cycle, though these effects were not statistically significant. It is possible that these acoustic changes could account for some of the replicated perceptual, hormonal, and physiological changes documented in prior literature using these voice stimuli.
先前的研究表明，与月经周期的低生育阶段相比，在高生育阶段录制的女性声音，听众会觉得更具吸引力。这种效应在多个语音录音样本中都得到了验证，但有一组刺激样本的复制效果尤为显著。这些样本最初由皮皮托内和盖洛普于2008年收集，他们让女性每周在大致相同的日期和时间从1数到10，持续4周。多次研究表明，与处于低生育阶段的同一女性声音相比，处于高生育阶段的自然周期女性的声音被评为更具吸引力。此外，这些刺激样本已被证明会引起自主神经系统的兴奋，并使听众的睾酮水平升高。尽管先前的研究已经考察了月经周期中声音的声学特性，但它们并未达成共识。本研究从声学角度评估了皮皮托内和盖洛普的声音刺激样本，分析了自然周期女性和服用激素避孕药的女性的特定嗓音特征。结果显示，在自然周期女性中，与低生育阶段的声音相比，高生育阶段录制的声音的声幅变化（微扰）显著更低。谐波噪声比和音高变化（基频微扰）在月经周期不同时间采集的声音中也呈现出系统性波动，不过这些效应在统计学上并不显著。这些声学变化有可能解释了先前文献中使用这些声音刺激样本所记录的一些感知、激素和生理变化。
