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Women try lower tone of voice in aiming to compete with men

By PATRICIA WALSH

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Many women lower their voices as they try to succeed like men.

That's the belief of two Arizona State University professors -- both women -- who have researched 'ideal' voices.

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The professors questioned 387 college students from ASU and, to compare cultural effects, the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Mexico.

They found the U.S. male has it easy. His ideal voice is almost a carbon copy of what those surveyed think of as ideal for all people, both male and female. It is low in pitch, medium in volume and somewhat slow.

These same people think the ideal female voice is medium in pitch and soft in volume.

So how does Jane Doe sound like an ideal female and sound ideal at the same time?

'I can choose,' said Banisa Saint Damian, co-author of the study with Carol Ann Valentine. 'I can either confirm gender expectations and be medium in pitch or I can lower the pitch and maybe harm my voice.'

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The professors said U.S. voice preferences already show in women broadcasters, who sound more and more like men.

'We're creating a new breed, a new ideal for woman going into the media,' said Ms. Saint Damian. 'Their looks are feminine but the sounds are slightly different than the ideal female voice. She's a cross breed. So we have a new image.'

As one woman broadcaster lowers her voice and succeeds, others will follow, Ms. Saint Damian said.

The researchers expect the image to carry over to the public.

Ms. Valentine said recent articles say women's voices already are becoming like men's, just as regional dialects and accents are giving way to the homogenized speech of the media.

'The notion is that women ... are modeling their voices after the women they see and hear in the media, as opposed to ... mothers, aunts and neighbor women,' Ms. Valentine said.

In business settings, women have found they should lower their tone to get ahead, she said.

'Women's voices are not as authoritative or as credible. They are not perceived as knowledgeable, partly because of pitch.'

Ironically, just when the woman wants to sound most in control, her body works against her.

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'The voice box is a muscle,' Ms. Valentine said. 'When you're nervous it tightens up. At the time we want to sound most knowledgeable and credible, our voice betrays us.'

She said a man's voice may go up and still be in the 'okay range,' but 'Women start at the top of the range and go up from there.'

On the other hand, a woman can lower her voice too much.

'If a male lowers his voice to approach the ideal, it doesn't occur to anyone to write in that the voice offends them,' Ms. Saint Damian said. 'When a female announcer sounds as if she has lowered her voice ... she doesn't sound feminine.'

Also, if a woman speaks louder to conform to the general ideal voice, she may be suspect.

'I cannot sound feminine and loud,' Ms. Saint Damian said. 'If I begin to raise my voice, someone will say, 'Why are you talking so loud?' or 'She's so aggressive,' because the expectation for females is soft. Anything more than soft is loud.'

Expectations play a large part in voices, the researchers said.

'We are guided by unwritten norms,' Ms. Saint Damian said. 'There are expectations of how we should sound that we conform to naturally.'

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