Researcher reveals that womens' voices are deeper than men's

 
A German researcher, on Tuesday, disclosed that women speak at a lower average pitch than has been widely thought - only about half an octave higher than men.

Christopf Engel, a biometrics expert at the Leipzig University's Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology in Germany, told newsmen that "relevant scientific literature to date has stated that women speak at about an octave higher than men."


The finding was one of several during a five-year study involving some 10,000 adults from the Leipzig region by the university's Leipzig Research Centre for Civilisation Diseases (LIFE).

Engel said phoniatric examinations of 2,500 persons led to the finding on women's speaking pitch.

Phoniatrics is the study and treatment of the organs involved in speech production as well as of voice defects.

The biometrics expert said: "It was the first time worldwide that average voice levels in a group this large could be determined."

He, therefore, called for more research to ascertain whether women deliberately lowered the pitch of their voices or whether hormones were a cause.
According to him, data collected in the study will provide important parameters for the clinical evaluation of dysphonia, or voice impairment.