Holmes Luke, Rieger Gerulf, Paulmann Silke
Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2024 Aug 7;15:1412372. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412372. eCollection 2024.
Previous research has investigated sexual orientation differences in the acoustic properties of individuals' voices, often theorizing that homosexuals of both sexes would have voice properties mirroring those of heterosexuals of the opposite sex. Findings were mixed, but many of these studies have methodological limitations including small sample sizes, use of recited passages instead of natural speech, or grouping bisexual and homosexual participants together for analyses.
To address these shortcomings, the present study examined a wide range of acoustic properties in the natural voices of 142 men and 175 women of varying sexual orientations, with sexual orientation treated as a continuous variable throughout.
Homosexual men had less breathy voices (as indicated by a lower harmonics-to-noise ratio) and, contrary to our prediction, a lower voice pitch and narrower pitch range than heterosexual men. Homosexual women had lower F4 formant frequency (vocal tract resonance or so-called overtone) in overall vowel production, and rougher voices (measured via jitter and spectral tilt) than heterosexual women. For those sexual orientation differences that were statistically significant, bisexuals were in-between heterosexuals and homosexuals. No sexual orientation differences were found in formants F1-F3, cepstral peak prominence, shimmer, or speech rate in either sex.
Recommendations for future "natural voice" investigations are outlined.
以往的研究调查了个体声音声学特性中的性取向差异，通常认为两性同性恋者的声音特性会与异性异性恋者的声音特性相似。研究结果不一，但其中许多研究存在方法上的局限性，包括样本量小、使用背诵段落而非自然语音，或将双性恋和同性恋参与者归为一组进行分析。
为解决这些不足，本研究考察了142名男性和175名女性不同性取向的自然声音中的多种声学特性，在整个研究过程中将性取向视为连续变量。
同性恋男性的声音呼吸声较少（通过较低的谐波与噪声比表示），与我们的预测相反，其音高较低且音高范围比异性恋男性窄。同性恋女性在整体元音发音中F4共振峰频率较低（声道共振或所谓的泛音），且声音比异性恋女性更粗糙（通过抖动和频谱倾斜度测量）。对于那些具有统计学显著性的性取向差异，双性恋者处于异性恋者和同性恋者之间。在F1 - F3共振峰、谐波峰值突出度、闪烁或语速方面，未发现两性在性取向上存在差异。
概述了对未来“自然声音”研究的建议。
