Universal vs. language-specific aspects in human vocal attractiveness: an investigation towards Japanese native listeners' perceptual pattern

Abstract

Studies on Western societies show that male voices with acoustic parameters encoding a big body size (low F0, narrow formant dispersion, and F0 range) were considered to be attractive, while the opposite was true for female voices (e.g., [Xu et al., 2013, PLoS ONE, 8(4), e62397]). The present work investigates whether Japanese 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 prevalent in North America nowadays and hotly debated in terms of attractiveness. Thirty-four heterosexual participants (16 female) rated the attractiveness of synthetic stimuli controlling for F0 height, formant distribution, F0 range and voice quality. Results indicate that their preferences for voice quality are similar with studies on Western societies (breathy > modal >creaky >pressed/tensed). Additionally, low-pitched male voice with narrow formant dispersion and high-pitched female voices were also favorable. Interestingly, 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.