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Like physicality, deep voices have a practical utility. Specifically, human hearing is biased towards the low notes, and it's easier to hear a low-f signal thro

by scythe 5y ago

Like physicality, deep voices have a practical utility. Specifically, human hearing is biased towards the low notes, and it's easier to hear a low-f signal through high-f noise than to hear a high-f signal through low-f noise. This is due to the anatomy of the cochlea, where high pitches only strike the early hairs but low pitches strike all of the hairs -- this is also why you tend to lose high-frequency hearing first. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlea#Hearing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlea#Hearing So, a man with a deeper voice has, quite literally, an easier time being heard. This also means that women, at least usually, have to speak louder than men do in order to be heard in noisy or crowded environments -- a side-effect of otic anatomy that may underlie certain stereotypes.

mbg721 5y ago
That runs against what I was taught in my high-school choir. In groups of male singers, there's a rule of thumb that you need more basses than tenors because the guys singing the lower notes are harder to hear. It may be that at lower pitches, their vocal cords just aren't making as much noise.
- scythe 5y ago
  I would agree that the loudest human vocalization is probably much louder and therefore more audible at mid-to-high range pitches (my own voice seems to confirm this). But the loudest human vocalizations are not relevant in the vast majority of conversations, pitch notwithstanding. For example, most people reading this comment would probably attract a significant amount of negative attention if they emitted a sound near their maximum vocal loudness. But at an equal sound power level in watts-per-square-meter, low sounds tend to come through better -- human hearing sensitivity drops off below 100 Hz, but the lowest male voice is around 80 Hz, so that's not usually important.
  - thfuran 5y ago
    http://web.engr.uky.edu/~donohue/audio/fsear.html http://web.engr.uky.edu/~donohue/audio/fsear.html It's not just dropping below 100 Hz, it's already quite low by then.
Thiez 5y ago
My wife tells me that she really appreciates my deep voice at parties because she can always find me in a crowded room when I'm talking. Probably too situational to make a good evolutionary 'just so' story, but it's a nice minor advantage.

by scythe 5y ago

mbg721 5y ago

That runs against what I was taught in my high-school choir. In groups of male singers, there's a rule of thumb that you need more basses than tenors because the guys singing the lower notes are harder to hear. It may be that at lower pitches, their vocal cords just aren't making as much noise.

scythe 5y ago
I would agree that the loudest human vocalization is probably much louder and therefore more audible at mid-to-high range pitches (my own voice seems to confirm this). But the loudest human vocalizations are not relevant in the vast majority of conversations, pitch notwithstanding. For example, most people reading this comment would probably attract a significant amount of negative attention if they emitted a sound near their maximum vocal loudness. But at an equal sound power level in watts-per-square-meter, low sounds tend to come through better -- human hearing sensitivity drops off below 100 Hz, but the lowest male voice is around 80 Hz, so that's not usually important.
- thfuran 5y ago
  http://web.engr.uky.edu/~donohue/audio/fsear.html http://web.engr.uky.edu/~donohue/audio/fsear.html It's not just dropping below 100 Hz, it's already quite low by then.

Thiez 5y ago

My wife tells me that she really appreciates my deep voice at parties because she can always find me in a crowded room when I'm talking. Probably too situational to make a good evolutionary 'just so' story, but it's a nice minor advantage.