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Control of voice gender in pre-pubertal children

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 18:37 authored by Valentina Cartei, Wind Cowles, Robin BanerjeeRobin Banerjee, David Reby
Adult listeners are capable of identifying the gender of speakers as young as 4 years old from their voice. In the absence of a clear anatomical dimorphism in the dimensions of pre-pubertal boys' and girls' vocal apparatus, the observed gender differences may reflect children's regulation of their vocal behaviour. A detailed acoustic analysis was conducted of the utterances of 34 6- to 9-year-old children, in their normal voices and also when asked explicitly to speak like a boy or a girl. Results showed statistically significant shifts in fundamental and formant frequency values towards those expected from the sex dimorphism in adult voices. Directions for future research on the role of vocal behaviours in pre-pubertal children's expression of gender are considered.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

British Journal of Developmental Psychology

ISSN

0261-510X

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

1

Volume

32

Page range

100-106

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2014-10-10

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