Effect of formant frequency spacing on perceived gender in pre-pubertal children's voices.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It is usually possible to identify the sex of a pre-pubertal child from their voice, despite the absence of sex differences in fundamental frequency at these ages. While it has been suggested that the overall spacing between formants (formant frequency spacing--ΔF) is a key component of the expression and perception of sex in children's voices, the effect of its continuous variation on sex and gender attribution has not yet been investigated.

Methodology/principal findings

In the present study we manipulated voice ΔF of eight year olds (two boys and two girls) along continua covering the observed variation of this parameter in pre-pubertal voices, and assessed the effect of this variation on adult ratings of speakers' sex and gender in two separate experiments. In

SUBMITTER: Cartei V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3849092 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature