In Love with your Own Voice? Attraction and Sound

Some people simply love the sound of their own voice. And that certainly may be one of the qualities many subconsciously look for in an attractive partner, at least, according to a recent study.

In fact, researchers found that people typically prefer to listen to voices that are similar to their own. The study authors believe that this could be due to feeling a sense of community through the linked sounds.

"The voice is an amazingly flexible tool that we use to construct our identity," said lead author Molly Babel, a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia, via a press release. "Very few things in our voices are immutable, so we felt that our preferences had to be about more than a person's shape and size."

For the study, college-aged participants living in California were asked to rate the attractiveness of male and female voices from individuals living west of the Mississippi River.

Results showed that participants preferred voices of those who spoke in their own dialects. Yet the findings also showed a great significance regarding gender and voice preference.

For instance, most people preferred that men speak with shorter average word lengths and huskier voices. However, they preferred that women have breathier voices. The researchers said they believe this may have to do with our cultural obsessions regarding gender-roles.

However, at the end of it all, they also stress to never underestimate the appeal of a new or exotic voice, either. 

"Once you are outside of a certain range of familiarity, novel and exotic sounding voices might become more attractive," she said. "We also have to keep in mind that we find some accents more preferable than others because of social stereotypes that are associated with them."

What do you think?

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal PLOS ONE.