Don’t be so emotional! How women’s voices sound to men.
That fact that women speak differently than men is not surprise. What is enlightening is to discover how those differences effect the way women’s messages are perceived. Unfortunately they are often perceived as less credible and less persuasive. My first paid speech 26 years ago was on gender differences in nonverbal communication and I remember women in my audience being upset with that finding. If you have read any of John Gray’s Mars and Venus books you know that men often see women as being too emotional and that aspect of our voices is one of the factors that reduce our vocal credibility.
I coach women in my public speaking workshops and my women and leadership programs to hone their voices on certain factors that will affect their persuasiveness and credibility. Recently I read research that indicates there is another reason that men perceive female voices as emotional.
Dr. Michael Hunter, of Professor Peter Woodruff´s group in the Department of Psychiatry and Division of Genomic Medicine at the University of Sheffield studied the differences in the way men’s brains interpret voices and found that, “The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between women and men, and also due to women having greater natural `melody´ in their voices.. This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice.†What is interesting is that when a man hears a female voice, the auditory section of his brain, that is in his emotional right hemisphere, is activated so he hears the voice as being more emotional rather than rational and when he hears a male voice the part of the brain, sometimes called the mind’s eye, that compares current experiences to one’s self is activated. Female voices sound more emotional to men than their own based purely on where they are processed in his head!!
I will be blogging about other factors like breathiness, up endings, vocal qualifiers, and pitch that effects our perception of voices. I would love to hear how you think Hilary Clinton’s vocal characteristics effect her credibility. In the meantime, listen to some of the voices of the women speaking here ( This site is a great source for both written transcripts of speeches and well as audio recordings) and tell me what you think.
Dear Patti,
I’m fascinated with your work. I look for new information from you often and listened to Hillary’s voice on her speech about healthcare costs. Funny thing, I never knew why I didn’t care for her until I watched this. I found her to be flat as though she were reading from a textbook, unattached to what she’s saying. The look on her face when she speaks is uptight. Though she is intelligent and factual, there is an undercurrent of tension that feels discouraging. Too much attitude. I respect a leader who takes charge and stands strong in a positive way.
HI Patti,
Thank you for your insights into women’s speech. In watching the Health Care and Prsperity clip of Hillary, she doesn’t seem to connect with the audience. Her eye contact is above the heads of her audience and as she rotates her head from side to side her eyes move in the direction her head is moving. She also tends to sway her body one way with her head moving in the other direction. While her voice sounds authoritative she emphasizes points with her eyebrows. I never analyzed her before tonight and found the dis-connect disheartening. It’s tough being a female speaker….there’s criticism whether you’re too aggressive or too warm.