1. Effects of Vocal Characteristics on Perceived Gender and Sexual Orientation Ricky McGee & Levi Hamner Hanover College

2. Voice People with lower frequency voices are perceived to be more dominant. (Puts et al., 2006) (Borkowska, 2011) Females with higher pitched voices were assessed as more attractive up to a certain pitch in voice. ( Borkowska, 2011) Masculine voices are rated as more competent than feminine voices. Feminine voices are rated as having more warmth than masculine voices. (Ko, Judd, & Stapel, 2009)

3. Masculinity/Femininity & Sexual Orientation Gay men sound less masculine than heterosexual men, and lesbian women sound less feminine than heterosexual women. (Munson, 2007) Female listeners identified gay male speakers through higher frequency voices. (Linville, 1998)

4. Research Question How are people's perceptions of masculinity, femininity, and sexual orientation, influenced by: The masculinity or femininity of a voice? The perceiver's own masculinity and femininity?

5. Hypotheses The pitch of the voice will influence the participants gender identification of the speaker. The characteristics of the voice will determine the participants sexual orientation identification of the speaker. A voice that is of deeper pitch, which also consists of feminine characteristics, will be perceived as a homosexual male.

6. Procedure Informed Consent Test Recording Voice Recording Survey and Demographics Bem Sex Role Inventory Test o (Bem, 1972) Debriefing

7. Participants 44 Participants 24 Males, 20 Females 99% Caucasian Ages 19-52 –Average Age: 22 –Median Age: 21

8. Audio One of twelve audio recordings, will be played about our target subject, 'Alex.' o All have the same script o Three audio recordings are spoken by a male. o Three audio recordings are spoken by a female. o Each recording was duplicated and digitally altered to mimic the pitch of the opposite sex.

9. Audio Procedure Programs o Adobe Premier Pro o Adobe Sound Booth Alterations o Bass Changer o Pitch Shifter Exported into.mp3 formats

10. Impressions of Alex 6-point Likert Scale Measures to Assess Attention o Alex has three siblings. Social-Distance Measures o I would be interested in getting to know Alex. Measures of Masculinity/Femininity o High/Low Masculinity  Alex is masculine o High/Low Femininity  Alex would enjoy reading Cosmopolitan Magazine Measure to Assess Homosexuality o Alex is a homosexual

11. Data Analysis ANOVA o 2x2 between voice pitch (masculine or feminine) and voice characteristics (masculine or feminine). Multiple Regressions o Ratings of Alex regressed on voice pitch and characteristics, and all possible interactions of those 2 factors. o Expect that homosexual identification will be amplified by feminine characteristics of a masculine-pitched voice.

12. Results

13. Results cont.

14. Interaction p=.02

15. Results cont. r= -.464, p=.002

16. Limitations Restricted range on the BSRI. –All ‘Undifferentiated’ Pitch manipulations failed to influence subjects’ gender inferences.

17. Questions?