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Why Do Men Have Deeper Voices than Women?

In addition to finding socks that match and reserving a table at the right restaurant, men may have one more thing to worry about before going out on that next date: their voice. According to experiments conducted by David Puts, an anthropologist at Michigan State University, men with deeper voices may have more luck in attracting members of the opposite sex.

Testosterone, the hormone that elongates the vocal cords during puberty, is also responsible for other manly features -- such as broad shoulders and hairy faces. And as indicators of sexual maturity, these traits may play a large role in the process of finding a mate for reproduction. This means that since the beginning of humankind, a man's voice could have functioned as a testosterone advertisement. After all, the caveman who could best protect the cave probably sounded more like Barry White than Mickey Mouse.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Erika Engelhaupt