"When you wake up, your vocal folds need to warm up just like the rest of you," says Pitman. "Before a runner goes out, they stretch and run slowly to get the blood flowing.
Remember, your vocal cords have been at rest for many sleeping hours, which is a reason why they sound deeper in the morning.
When you wake up and speak, the dried out mucous membranes cannot make the rapid vibrations that produce a sonorous sound, causing the sound to be husky and irregular – known as the 'morning voice'.
The inability to drain fluids while we are lying down could also contribute to another symptom of morning voice. Often, our voices feel and sound a little hoarse, making us perceive our voice as lower. This could be down to thickened excess mucus that has settled on the vocal cords overnight.
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.
As a result, women find men with lower-pitched voices more attractive. It's the opposite for men, who are more attracted to women with higher-pitched voices, which is perceived as a marker for femininity. Attractiveness in the voice is important for the impressions we give our potential partners.
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.
As you go through puberty, the larynx gets bigger and the vocal cords lengthen and thicken, so your voice gets deeper.
One of the best ways to get rid of morning voice is to do vocal warmups. Singing scales, humming, and lips trills are all healthy ways to give your vocal cords a stretch without asking too much of them.
One of the most common causes of a hoarse voice in the morning is inflammation of the larynx. Phlegm naturally passes through the throat throughout the day, but when we are asleep, it can pool around the larynx, causing it to swell in irritation. On top of that, hoarseness can be caused by sleeping with the mouth open.
Your range may extend as much as 4 notes downward in the morning, simply because your vocals chords are at rest when you sleep. This temporarily makes your vocal chords longer, and capable of producing lower frequencies.
Research indicates that higher-pitched voices are thought to signal femininity and reproductive wellness, which is why men are allegedly drawn to them.
A quavering voice is shaky and a little unclear. People's voices are often quavering when they're tired or afraid. If you're about to cry, you might speak in a quavering voice.
In men, these differences could be chalked up to testosterone. During puberty, testosterone helps boys build broad shoulders and big muscles. It also helps lower their voice. Sex hormones may also account for a woman's sexy voice and curvy figure, Hughes says.
Start talking shortly after you wake up.
Alternately, even if you wait a few hours to begin speaking in the morning, most of the raspy sound will have left your voice. Your voice will sound the hoarsest during the first hour or two after waking up.
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.
So it tickled me to discover my voice was referenced in a recent dating study from the University of Sussex which found that men find a lower tone more attractive.
It used to be thought that voice pitch in mammals relates to body size, but that is no longer believed top be the case. McElligott pointed out that you can have big men with higher-pitched voices, or smaller men with lower-pitched voices, so pitch is not always an indication of body size.
Men first speak in a sing-song type of voice and then adjust it to a lower tone when they are talking to someone they find attractive. Some experts believe men modulate their voices first as a way to put women at ease and then lower the tone of their voice to sound more masculine.
"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.
According to a study from 2017, it's common for people to change the pitch of their voice depending on who they're speaking to. The study, from researchers at Scotland's University of Stirling found that people change the pitch of their voice in accordance to how dominant they feel in the conversation.
"When a woman naturally lowers her voice, it may be perceived as her attempt to sound more seductive or attractive, and therefore serves as a signal of her romantic interest," she adds. Their research also measured people's awareness of the changes in others' voices.
The difference between being able to hold a tune and having a genuinely beautiful singing voice is to do with the thousands of tiny and mostly unconscious muscle contractions that subtly adjust the resonant properties of your airway in response to the emotions you feel as you sing.