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LiveScience
A low-pitched voice in a man is associated with a litany of masculine traits: dominance, strength, greater physical size, more attractiveness to women, and so on. But new research strikes one trait off that list: virility.
An Australian study looked at male voice pitch, women's perceptions of it, and semen quality. Their first finding was no surprise: Women like deep voices and consider them masculine.
But contrary to expectations, they also found that these men aren't better off in the semen department. In fact, by one measure of sperm quality — sperm concentration in ejaculate — men with the attractive voices appeared to have a disadvantage.
This is a surprise because females, both humans and of other species, are believed to glean information about male virility through secondary sexual traits, such as facial hair and muscle mass in humans and other traits in other animals, such as colorful plumage in birds.
In the case of voice pitch, the researchers from the University of Western Australia suggest there may be a trade-off at work. In other words, traits associated with dominance and attractiveness, such as physical strength or a deep voice, may come at the cost of reduced sperm quality, they write in a study published Dec. 22 in the journal PLoS ONE.
For instance, higher testosterone levels are associated with a deeper voice, more masculine features, more dominant behavior and success in obtaining sexual partners. Although testosterone plays an important role in the formation of sperm, however, high levels of it can actually impair sperm production, they write.
To conduct the research, the team recruited 54 men to provide voice recordings and semen samples. Their recordings were analyzed by software and ranked by 30 female volunteers on attractiveness or masculinity.
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Maybe the deeper voiced males get more action more often, so their sperm production is constantly depleted? While the testicles try to catch up in sperm production, the prostate is creating more ejaculation fluids.
on deeper voice males, I will have to agree this study, not sure about the other features, I will have to do some more research
I always suspected this... of Barry White.
I have a thick mat of dense lush chest hair. The girls melt when they see me jog by on a hot and humid July day, all greased up, dripping in man juices... I like to think my testosterone levels are near the top of the scale.
Yeah, but your high-pitched voice would give you away,... whimp! :-)
too bad (for said girls), those man juices are from another man.
I am guessing that the quality of a deep voice (which enhances masculinity b/c it is so opposite of the female voice) was an adaptation. Men with deep voices can get more opportunities to mate, which compensates for their lower sperm count. Maybe nature allowed men developed it to trick partners into thinking they were more virile than they are. If you don't have a high sperm count, the more partners you can get with, the more likely you are to reproduce.
Body hair is much more masculine, not deeper voices.
yea if you're a monkey
Ouch! LOL
I dated a guy who had hair on his back and he hated it. As far as the sex went... two thumbs up!!
Oh, I forgot to mention that he had a deep voice also. So what are the results of the research/study on that?
Well, the study said nothing about talent in bed, just lower sperm count so...?
girls really do like a deep voice and sperm count varies widely based on tons of factors and it really doesn't make any difference to fertility except when it reaches unreasonably low levels (something that has nothing to do with voice pitch).
Remember how the women went crazy for the virile manly appearance and deep rich voice of Rock Hudson?