Deep-Voiced Men Are More Attractive To Women, At Least When It Comes To Hooking Up

The Type Of Voice That Women Find Irresistible

Have a voice that sounds more like James Earl Jones than David Beckham's slightly squeaky one? You're in luck: a new study suggests women are more attracted to guys with a low-pitched voice when it comes to short-term flings.

But don't go altering your voices just yet, guys: The study also suggested that women perceive men with deep voices as being more likely to cheat on them.

The study, published online in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, offers insight into how human voices evolved and how we choose our mates.

“Until now, it’s been unclear why women would like the voices of men who might cheat," said Jillian O’Connor, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. "We found that the more women thought these men would cheat, the more they were attracted to them for a brief relationship when they are less worried about fidelity.”

To conduct the study, O’Connor and her team asked roughly 90 women to listen to men's voices that were electronically manipulated to sound higher or lower, and then choose who they thought would be more likely to cheat on their partners.

The researchers also asked the ladies to pick the voice they thought was more attractive for a long-term relationship versus a short-term one. The verdict? The deep-voiced men were seen as being more suitable for a fling and more likely to cheat.

So why do the researchers think this is the case? From an evolutionary perspective, women's voice-based judgments on the faithfulness of men may be adaptive, said David Feinberg, an assistant professor in the department of psychology, neuroscience and behavior at the university.

"The consequences of infidelity are very high whether it is emotional or financial and this research suggests that humans have evolved as a protection mechanism to avoid long-term partners who may cheat," Feinberg said.

This isn't the first time researchers have delved into how women -- and men -- interpret the pitch of a potential mate's voice. Back in April 2013, researchers from the University College London found that deep male voices were judged as more attractive because they conveyed that the speaker was strong and possessed a large frame, while high-pitched female voices were considered to be more attractive because they suggested the speaker had a small body.

Women Use Pick-Up Lines, Too

11 Unexpected Facts About Sexual Attraction

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Divorce on Facebook and Twitter.

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE