Don’t waste your breath, husky voices are the most sexy

Marilyn Monroe was suggested as a good example of the perfect woman's voice — high-pitched and breathy
Marilyn Monroe was suggested as a good example of the perfect woman's voice — high-pitched and breathy
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In 1977 Barry White sang “I’m qualified to satisfy you”. It has taken 30 years, but science has now confirmed that women really are more satisfied by deep, husky voices.

Men, however, prefer their partners to have higher-pitched voices — although, as President Kennedy might well have attested after Marilyn Monroe’s birthday serenade, for them, too, the huskier the better.

Yi Xu, a researcher at UCL, believes that the explanation is all to do with a careful trade-off between body size and, in the case of women choosing between men, not being too scary.

“What we found is that for males listening to females, they preferred the voice to be high-pitched — although not too high — and as breathy as possible. These suggest a