Cartei, Valentina, Cowles, Wind, Banerjee, Robin and Reby, David (2014) Control of voice gender in pre-pubertal children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 32 (1). pp. 100-106. ISSN 0261-510X

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	gender development;child's voice;fundamental frequency;formants;voice control;voice development
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF0180 Experimental psychology
Depositing User:	David Reby
Date Deposited:	10 Oct 2014 07:01
Last Modified:	14 Mar 2017 05:49
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/50503

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