Men's voices often deepen up to an octave, while women's voices usually move about three tones lower. After puberty and well into older adulthood, some people's voices may change, but not everyone's.
Well, we're sad to say that permanently altering your voice isn't usually possible. The main reason behind this is due to genetics: your biological sex, body structure, age, environment, and so much more can play a part in shaping how you sound.
It is possible to modify your singing pitch range to a certain extent, with or without testosterone. There is some preliminary evidence that a lower dose of testosterone allows for the maintenance of a higher pitch range or easier modification of pitch.
While it is impossible to permanently change your voice without medical intervention, there are a range of exercises that men can practice in order to speak with a deeper pitch, although their implementation is dependent on the individual and their specific goals.
Research confirms that deep voices give men an aura of power and sexual allure. Men with low, resonant voices are more likely to be perceived as attractive, masculine, respectable, and dominant.
Women are more attracted to men with deep voices – and this attraction is strongest among prettier, more feminine women. In fact, women prefer a masculine voice more strongly and more unanimously to a masculine face.
Clinicians should counsel transgender men that they may or may not experience voice lowering within the first 3 months of testosterone therapy and that the majority of voice deepening will occur within 6-9 months.
"However," he says, "evidence suggests men evolved deeper voices mainly for intimidating other men rather than attracting women." Studies show that men with deeper voices tend to have higher testosterone levels (an indicator of dominance) and a more athletic body type.
It may not surprise you that genetic factors influence vocal quality. After all, voice qualities are largely determined by the size and shape of your larynx, neck, throat and facial structures all determined by genetics. But the influence of environment is too strong to be ignored.
Apart from anatomy, stress, anxiety, excitement (any emotion that causes us to move from baseline), causes our voice to increase in pitch. When people become frightened or excited, the muscles around the voice box (or larynx) unconsciously contract, putting strain on the vocal cords, making the pitch higher.
The biggest changes to your voice will happen during puberty and will usually end by the age of 18. Your adult pitch is then reached 2 or 3 years later. But your voice won't completely stabilise until early adulthood.
Puberty is a process of sexual maturation. A voice change is one of the secondary sexual characteristics adolescents develop. In boys, this happens between ages 12 and 16; in girls, between ages 10 and 14.
The deepness of a voice is primarily determined by the length and thickness of the vocal cords. Longer and thicker vocal cords produce lower, James Earl Jones-like pitches. So, if you want a deeper voice, you just need to thicken and lengthen your vocal cords.
Testosterone therapy is the only type of hormone therapy that permanently changes the voice and most often results in a dramatic lowering of a person's spoken fundamental frequency. 1 Due to such a radical shift, the process of vocal change can be turbulent.
The larger a guy's larynx, the thicker the vocal cords, and the bigger the resonating area, the deeper his voice will be. Once your larynx has grown, your voice will be more stable and easier to control.
It can happen when a full grown men who had undergone physical changes during puberty, but their high pitch voice remains unchanged. For those affected, they actually have a voice problem known as puberphonia. Who has puberphonia? Puberphonia is a condition that usually affects men.
Studies show that women tend to prefer men with deep voices, which are linked to higher testosterone levels and general reproductive prowess. Men, meanwhile, are drawn to women with high-pitched voices, which are associated with high estrogen levels, perhaps serving as a cue to a woman's health and fertility.
Singing is also thought to be genetic because gender can affect your voice; differences in the size of the larynx mean men have deeper voices while women have higher, breathier tones. The natural timbre of your voice is determined by genetics, but you can learn how to train and develop your voice.
Puts' Scientific Reports study found that men with lower formant frequencies—a deeper resonance in their voices—tended to be taller, larger, and stronger. (That's partly because longer vocal tracts and larger vocal folds generate lower, more resonant voices.)
There is also abundant evidence that women prefer men with a deep voice, while men prefer women with a high voice. Attractive male voices are around 96 Hz and the most attractive women voices are up to 280 Hz.