Are Men's Perceptions of Sexually Dimorphic Vocal Characteristics Related to Their Testosterone Levels?

PLoS One. 2016 Nov 22;11(11):e0166855. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166855. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Feminine physical characteristics in women are positively correlated with markers of their mate quality. Previous research on men's judgments of women's facial attractiveness suggests that men show stronger preferences for feminine characteristics in women's faces when their own testosterone levels are relatively high. Such results could reflect stronger preferences for high quality mates when mating motivation is strong and/or following success in male-male competition. Given these findings, the current study investigated whether a similar effect of testosterone occurs for men's preferences for feminine characteristics in women's voices. Men's preferences for feminized versus masculinized versions of women's and men's voices were assessed in five weekly test sessions and saliva samples were collected in each test session. Analyses showed no relationship between men's voice preferences and their testosterone levels. Men's tendency to perceive masculinized men's and women's voices as more dominant was also unrelated to their testosterone levels. Together, the results of the current study suggest that testosterone-linked changes in responses to sexually dimorphic characteristics previously reported for men's perceptions of faces do not occur for men's perceptions of voices.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Auditory Perception / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Saliva / metabolism*
  • Sex Characteristics*
  • Testosterone / metabolism*
  • Voice*

Substances

  • Testosterone

Grants and funding

BCJ is funded by European Research Council Grant 282655 (OCMATE) (https://erc.europa.eu/). LMD & BCJ are funded by ESCR Grant ES/I031022/2 (http://www.esrc.ac.uk/). MK is funded by ESRC +3 PhD studentship ES/J500136/1 (http://www.esrc.ac.uk/). DRF is funded by Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award (ER11-08-084) (https://www.ontario.ca/page/early-researcher-awards). KP is funded by European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual Fellowship H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-655859 (http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/about-msca/actions/if/index_en.htm). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.