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Dr. Kim Mulvihill reporting New research shows men with the deepest voices are luckiest in love and offspring.
When love calls, what kind of guy strikes the right note? "Not falsetto," one woman said.
Another woman said, "I like a really nice low voice."
New research says that "really nice low voice" is actually what gives men the edge: a better chance at reproduction. In other words, Barry White beats out Barry Manilow.
How do we know? Harvard researchers listened to which men fathered the most kids, but not in America where contraception is common. Researchers went to Tanzania to study one of the last remaining tribes of hunter gatherers on the planet, a tribe that doesn't have access to modern birth control.
Researchers found the men who had the deepest voices fathered the most offspring. Those with the lowest voices had two more children on average than men with squeaky high voices.
What creates that low voice? High levels of testosterone, and that can translate into a zesty libido.
"At the teenage stage of males they're having big bursts, the highest levels of testosterone, which turns on all the sexual pursuit circuits, and as we know that probably doesn't ever really end in a male probably until his 80s," explained Dr. Louann Brizendine, UCSF Neuropsychiatrist.
Brizendine says while testosterone is still key, today's modern gatherers may be looking for a different kind of hunter. "Females look for a mate that is going to give them some security and help to support the nest where you can bring up children, i.e. females look for financial success in mates," she said.
Giving voice, perhaps, to what women really find attractive.
As for women, researchers found the pitch of a woman's voice did not give her a similar advantage.
