Voices

[Technosoul]

Children all sound about the same in the pitch of their voices.

Cats and dogs pretty much sound alike and gender has not made much of a difference in how the bow wow us.

So here is the question: Why do men end up with lower pitched voices and women have those higher notes when speaking?

What is the evolutionary advantages to that difference in the pitch or sounds of a male from a female voice?

[Jason]

Your founding assumptions are simply untrue. What you perceive as "pretty much…alike" are just as disparate as adult human voices. You're simply not trained (or physically able) to distinguish. This is the same reason native Germanic language speakers can't always distinguish between "v" and "w," or why you can't pronounce half of the Danish vowels (or tell the difference between them, really).

Anyway, dogs yelp similarly just as people scream similarly. That doesn't mean they don't have different voices.

[Jack]

Perceiving sound (hearing) is as important as producing it.

[Anmon]

Quote by: Technosoul What is the evolutionary advantages to that difference in the pitch or sounds of a male from a female voice?

Women have high pitched voices to call for help in time of distress, this comes out as a long ear piercing shriek, which will bring any males nearby to her aid.
It also could frighten the wits out of an assailant by its volume and pitch causing him to back off, so it could be self defensive as well.

[tommy5x]

I've never heard that one, sounds reasonable though.

If lower sounds carry (I think they do moreson that high?) then the pitch difference is probably based on millenia of signalling to other people whilst hunting.

[Anmon]

Quote by: tommy5x If lower sounds carry (I think they do moreson that high?) then the pitch difference is probably based on millenia of signalling to other people whilst hunting.

We have lower tones because our voice box's are larger, the sound isn't pushed out as quickly enough so it comes out lower. Whereas women having a smaller voice box can push the sound out quicker and higher, which may explain why they can say over two hundred words in less than a minute.
Thats basically it, I probably haven't explained it right, I'm sure Isherwood will be along soon to correct me .

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Jason Your founding assumptions are simply untrue. What you perceive as "pretty much…alike" are just as disparate as adult human voices. You're simply not trained (or physically able) to distinguish. This is the same reason native Germanic language speakers can't always distinguish between "v" and "w," or why you can't pronounce half of the Danish vowels (or tell the difference between them, really). Anyway, dogs yelp similarly just as people scream similarly. That doesn't mean they don't have different voices.

Hmm? Perhaps. Longwood does not sound like Houston but they have something in common none the less.

Even so a female voice sounds higher pitched then a male voice (even if animals might have the same sort of thing going on) and so what is the reason for that? Let me look down this thread first and see what others have to comment.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Anmon Women have high pitched voices to call for help in time of distress, this comes out as a long ear piercing shriek, which will bring any males nearby to her aid. It also could frighten the wits out of an assailant by its volume and pitch causing him to back off, so it could be self defensive as well.

Or for nagging? ( just kidding ladies ).

I noticed when working security that a womans voice does carry better over those radios, and the words are better understood. Many police departments use women for that purpose in the radio dispatch field of work.

That might also be useful for calling the children if they get lost ( in primitive times).

I noticed however that some soul singers can hit those high notes with ease, and some of the male soul singers sound like women.

But they do sound closer to the voices of children then the voices of men, a man's voice changes when they loose that childhood voice.
So would that mean that men mature differently then do women?
Men grow face hair when they mature and women stay sort of hairless on their faces like children. What stunts them from maturing like men do? Or am I in error for making this sort of observation?

Can the science of evolution answer that this strange question?

[Anmon]

lol your right. women are very child like in a lot of ways, we don't call them baby for nothing.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Anmon lol your right. women are very child like in a lot of ways, we don't call them baby for nothing.

Or more evolved? because hair is more animal like then being hairless, at least in the mammal classification.

Now I know that women are different then men for reproductive purposes, but many animals have mating rituals. Even frogs attract one another with vocal sounds. Would that be a factor? Do the differences in voices have some sort of sexual attaction that can promote suvival by reproduction?

Like when a rooster goes "cockadoddle doo".

[Anmon]

=Technosoul;499068]Or more evolved? because hair is more animal like then being hairless, at least in the mammal classification.

Maybe bodily in some ways, can you imagine a woman covered in hair like us? yech! Very unattractive look for a woman.

Do the differences in voices have some sort of sexual attaction that can promote suvival by reproduction?

Possibly, we seem to prefer women with high pitched voices as long as their not monotonous, but melodic.
Although a husky low voice can sound pretty good on a woman too.

Like when a rooster goes "cockadoddle doo".

lol and the hen goes 'anycockwilldo'

[gela]

Its probably a side effect of a useful gene.

Men generally have low voices, but some have voices that are just as high as a womans.

It isn't universal, so if men did evolve like because there was some advantage; I think the advantage would be slight.

[Jack]

Since the topic is voices, I'm curious how each of us hear voices in our head. We all talk to ourselves and conduct mental conversations. Are the voices like you perceive your own, are they usually female or male?

[gela]

I read over your post over and over again listening to the voice in my head..

I think its the same as my normal voice. I definitely don't think in a man voice.. if anything, it might be a little higher then my speaking voice.

I think how I hear my voice when I talk, is lower then how my voice sounds to everyone else when I talk.
I notice it when I hear a recording of myself, and if you cover one ear and talk, you can hear how everyone else hears you, and Its a little bit higher..

Mabe I think in the voice that everyone else hears..

..strange..

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Anmon Maybe bodily in some ways, can you imagine a woman covered in hair like us? yech! Very unattractive look for a woman. Possibly, we seem to prefer women with high pitched voices as long as their not monotonous, but melodic. Although a husky low voice can sound pretty good on a woman too. lol and the hen goes 'anycockwilldo'

Did you ever snuggle up to a girl wearing a mink coat? Pretty sexy I would think? What if girls had mink hair growing on their bodies?

[Technosoul]

Quote by: gela Its probably a side effect of a useful gene. Men generally have low voices, but some have voices that are just as high as a womans. It isn't universal, so if men did evolve like because there was some advantage; I think the advantage would be slight.

And so are we to assume that not every change is due to evolution?

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Jack Since the topic is voices, I'm curious how each of us hear voices in our head. We all talk to ourselves and conduct mental conversations. Are the voices like you perceive your own, are they usually female or male?

I personally seldom hear audio voices in my head. At least not conducting a conversation, it would be more of a slient thought connecting to a remembered image of a person. But twice I did hear my name in a audio tone, while dreaming. (but no other talking). It took on the female voice of my mother, then my sister, then my wife. I do not know why that happened but it woke me up form a deep sleep.

Otherwise I assume that mental conversations are just me talking to me in order to try to re-play some distrubing past event, to make it come out right. the old "what I should have said and done" hind-sight game our minds sometimes wander into. But nothing audio.

[gela]

And so are we to assume that not every change is due to evolution?

It is because of natural selection.. but because it doesn't affect the entire gene pool of humans, then those who had the low voice gene musn't have had a particularly huge advatage, because high voices still survived, and got by fine.

OR

It could be a side effect of a different gene. Like testosterone.
I really have no idea, but just suppose that testosterone caused you to have a low voice - well, it also causes a pile of other useful traites for men to have.

Or when a gene for testosterone was created through mutation, that individual might have also had the gene for a low voice. So all of this individuals offspring who survived due to have testosterone, also happened to have a low voice.

[Maryjane]

Quote by: Jack Since the topic is voices, I'm curious how each of us hear voices in our head. We all talk to ourselves and conduct mental conversations. Are the voices like you perceive your own, are they usually female or male?

That's a great question! I don't really know. I do know I don't hear the southern accent.

[Jack]

What if girls had mink hair growing on their bodies?

They do, they're called female minks. Snuggling up to one isn't very sexy. They bite.