You Can Attract The Person Of Your Dreams With Just Your Voice

You're at a party, and as you talk with your friends about the latest drama, you can't help but notice a cutie out of the corner of your eye. Your breath quickens and you wonder what you should do. Should you make eyes from across the room and hope he'll come over to you? Should you be that girl who wears red, since, ya know, it makes you more "attractive"?

As you think of all of the visual cues you could be utilizing to get him to turn your way, there's something you may be overlooking: the power of your voice. 

Could it be just any voice, though? 

If you're a woman who wanrs to attract a man, your best bet will be to tune into your highest pitch, since it's most stereotypically female. Another thing to keep in mind: accents may not be so sexy after all. Studies show people prefer a classically feminine voice from their own community. So if you're after a California boy, that valley girl twang you've got going on could be just what you need to hook him.

The head researcher of the study, linguist Dr. Molly Babel, found this out by recording 30 voices on a tape recorder, analyzing their vocal quality and intonation, and then asking participants to rate the voices on attractiveness on a scale from 1 to 9. "We seem to like people who sound like we sound," Dr. Babel commented. This finding, however, changes when you're traveling. If you're looking for a boyfriend, stick with the familiar tone, but if you're into a traveling man, Dr. Babel notes, "Once you're outside of a certain range of familiarity, novel and exciting sounding voices might become more attractive." 

Another superpower of our voices? The attractive power of the breathy tone displayed by Marilyn Monroe and more recently, Katy Perry. Why is it attractive? A breathy, somewhat weak tone of voice signals young, thin vocal chords. Beware of taking the breathiness too far. The "creaky" tone caused by smoking, sleep deprivation, or ill health was actually perceived as less attractive.