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.
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