From deep to squeaky and loud to quiet, the variation in our voices is an amazing aspect of human existence.
But according to decades of psychological research, exactly how we talk can give some major insights into our personality.
A low-pitched voice, like that of Morgan Freeman, is a sign of extroversion and even sexual appeal, while high volume can be a reflection of power.
Meanwhile, a mumble can be macho and even an indication of cleverness rather than stupidity, according to psychologists.
Here’s a closer look at what the sound of your voice reveals about you, according to science.
What does your voice reveal about you? According to research, a low-pitched voice is a sign of sexiness, while high volume can be a reflection of power
READ MORE: What your face says about you , according to science
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PITCH
The pitch of a voice refers to its highness or lowness as perceived by the ear, which depends on the number of vibrations per second produced by the vocal cords.
High pitched voices, like actress Cameron Diaz, singer Christina Aguilera or comedian Steve Carell, are shriller or lighter.
Low-pitched voices – such as that of actor Morgan Freeman or singer Tina Tuner – are generally described as rich or deep and an attractive trait in the opposite sex.
A recent study found that people who do speak in a lower pitch are more appealing for long-term relationships.
According to study authors at Penn State University, that’s because it ‘exaggerates size’ and makes someone ‘seem big and intimidating’.
According to another study from 2021, people who speak in a lower pitch are more likely to be willing to engage in casual sex.
In experiments, people with lower pitched voices were more ‘unrestricted’ when it came to their ‘sociosexual’ behaviour – including orientation, attitudes and desires.
In the study, people with deep voices were also found to be more extroverted and have greater ‘dominance’, meaning they have high levels of influence in social situations.
Science may explain why you love the deep pitch of Morgan Freeman’s voice. Deep voices tend to be perceived as stronger and more physically attractive
Men with deep voices are more likely to attract a partner, but are also more likely to cheat on their partner due to high levels of testosterone, according to a 2020 study.
Women are often attracted to men with low, rich voices because they are associated with high testosterone levels, according to the Chinese authors.
Having a low pitch can also be handy if you want to influence certain people favourably to your own benefit.
A 2012 study found people prefer to vote for politicians with a lower voice pitch, likely because they sounded more dominant, honest, intelligent and attractive.
And a 2013 study found CEOs with lower voice pitch oversee larger companies, receive higher compensations, and enjoy longer tenures than CEOs with higher voice pitch.
Interestingly, a 2017 study found people have a high pitch voice when they’re speaking to people they feel inferior to, such as their boss.
High pitch voices, like actress Cameron Diaz , singer Christina Aguilera (pictured) or comedian Steve Carell, are shriller or lighter
TEMPO
Fast-talkers, like Hollywood film director Quentin Tarantino and Irish ex-footballer Shay Given, often give the impression they’ve got a lot on their mind they want to share.
It’s often assumed that the speed or tempo at which we talk reveals how clever we are, as if people with more powerful brains can process words faster.
But the speed at which we talk has nothing to do with intelligence, according to Michelle Devereaux, professor of English education at Kennesaw State University.
‘Slow talkers are often assumed to be less intelligent or competent than fast talkers, while very fast talkers can be seen as less truthful or kindhearted,’ she said.
‘There is no inherent connection between the rate of speech and levels of intelligence, truthfulness or kindness.’
However, researchers have linked voice tempo with other traits.
A 1984 paper reported that the speech tempo of extroverts is faster than that of introverts.
Irish goalkeeper turned pundit Shay Given can often leave Match of the Day viewers struggling to keep up with his mile-a-minute speech
More recently, Stanford University psychologists suggested speaking slowly can communicate power and confidence, and is a way of ‘claiming social space’.
ARTICULATION
Whether or not we mumble like a teenager, skipping syllables left right and centre, or enunciate our words perfectly has also be linked to our personality traits.
A 2021 study found that men who mumble, such as actor Tom Hardy, are seen as more attractive by women, because it is linked to being macho.
Men, on the other hand, find clear pronunciation – such as Elizabeth Hurley’s refined tones – attractive in the opposite sex because it indicates femininity.
Women tend to produce speech that is ‘acoustically and phonetically more distinct’ than that of males, the study authors claimed.
Keith Johnson, a phonetician at Ohio State University, found that skipping syllables is a frequent tool in conversational speech but results in confusion.
He cited Irish playwright St. John Greer Ervine, who argued that mumbling or skipping syllables was frequently done by the ‘lazy’ English.
Due to his tendecny to mumble, The Hollywood Reporter ran a 2018 article on the British actor entitled ‘Why Tom Hardy Can Be So Hard to Understand’
Pictured, Elizabeth Hurley in ‘Bad Boy’ (2002). Hurley is known for speaking the Queen’s English during her film career
Many are ‘weaklings too languid and emasculated to speak their noble language with any vigor’, Ervine said in 1948.
However, in a 2015 essay in Nautilus Magazine, linguistics author Julie Sedivy argued that pronouncing vowels indistinctly and dropping consonants are not ‘symptoms of slovenly speech’ but may be a clever tactic.
She drew comparisons between the human ability to drop or reduce sounds during speech and a computer’s ability to compress data.
VOLUME
Volume can also reveal a lot about personality, whether you have a powerful boom like actor Brian Blessed or a quiet murmur like Elon Musk.
A 2014 study linked having having a louder voice with holding power in a social situation, such as being able to make decisions on behalf of a group.
Elon Musk is one of the world’s richest people and has command of several powerful companies, but his voice is usually a quiet and delicate murmur
If you have a big, deep, booming voice like British actor Brian Blessed (pictured), it may be a reflection of power
This suggests that consciously raising the volume of your voice can give you more control – and make people listen to you.
According to a 1934 paper by American psychologists Hadley Cantril and Gordon Allport, more extraverted people have ‘louder, more boisterous and carefree voices’.
Meanwhile, those with quiet voices are commonly perceived as more introverted, on the basis that a lower volume doesn’t draw attention from others as well.
However, the link is not clear cut, as introverts can be loud and extroverts can be quiet.
