Men with deep voices more likely to cheat, study claims

A new study conducted at the Southwest University in Chongqing, China, has claimed that men who have deep voices are more likely to cheat on their partners.

The research, which was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, conducted experiments with 116 men and 145 women.

The subjects, who had an average age of 20, had the pitch of their voices measured. They were questioned on their attitudes to monogamy and commitment as a form of psychological test.

They also read out a list of words as the voice recordings were analysed for frequency and pitch influenced by a number of factors including the shape of the mouth, their larynx, and levels of testosterone.

It was found that men with lower-toned voices were more likely to engage in infidelity and were less likely to be committed to a relationship than those with higher-pitched voices.

The authors suggested women were attracted to men with rich voices as they are associated with high testosterone levels. In evolutionary terms, this suggests the speaker makes a good mate for producing healthy children.

Men with higher levels of testosterone were also more likely to have a lax attitude to infidelity, care less about their relationships, and eventually cheat.

The same was not true of women, with no noticeable difference in attitudes to fidelity whether they had high or low pitched voices.

The researchers suggest that testosterone is the key factor in fidelity.

“Testosterone and the characteristics dependent on testosterone can be reliable indicators of quality-dependent conditions or behaviour,” the authors of the study wrote.

“Therefore, men with higher testosterone levels, and hence lower voices, may have more infidelity behaviours or less commitment to their romantic relationship.

“Men with masculine voices may enhance their status among other men or their attractiveness to women… thereby increasing their chances of obtaining more or higher-quality partners.”