Universal vs. language-specific aspects in the perception of human vocal attractiveness : a Japanese-Mandarin cross-linguistic investigation

Abstract

Studies on vocal attractiveness in Western societies show that male voices with acoustic parameters encoding a large body size (low F0, narrow formant dispersion and F0 range) were considered to be attractive, while the opposite is true for female voices (e.g. Xu et al., 2013). The present work investigates whether Japanese and Mandarin native listeners are guided by the same principles in assessing the voices of the opposite sex. We replicated the design in Xu et al. (2013) with the added parameter of creaky voice, which is reportedly prevalent in North America nowadays and hotly debated in terms of its attractiveness. Thirty-four Japanese heterosexual native listeners (16 female) and thirty-two Mandarin listeners (16 female) rated the attractiveness of synthetic stimuli varying in F0 height, formant distribution, F0 range and voice quality. Results indicate that their preferences for voice quality are similar to studies on Western societies (breathy > modal >creaky >pressed/tensed). Additionally, low-pitched male voices with narrow formant dispersion were favorable for both Mandarin and Japanese females. Interestingly, Japanese males showed strong inclination to high-pitched female voices while Mandarin males preferred a moderately high pitch. Moreover, a narrow F0 range significantly lowered the attractiveness ratings, regardless of the gender of the voice, which contradicts Xu et al. (2013). These various results are discussed in light of the cross-linguistic/ cross-ethnic divergences in vocal attractiveness.