Candidates With Deep Voice Have Better Chances of Winning Polls

Pitch is the rate of vibration of the vocal folds and is an integral part of human voice. The sound of the voice changes as the rate of these vibrations varies. Two new studies have now revealed that candidates with deep or low pitched voice have better chances winning polls as they can influence the voters.

Casey Klofsta of the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences said, "Our analyses of both real-life elections and data from experiments show that candidates with lower-pitched voices are generally more successful at the polls."

The first study suggested that candidates who ran in the 2012 U.S. House elections and had lower voices were more likely to win their elections. While facing male opponents, candidates with low pitched voices won a larger vote share. But, when facing female opponents, candidates with higher pitched voices were more successful and particularly so in the case of male candidates.

Klofstad said, "As individuals with lower voices have higher levels of testosterone, and as testosterone correlates with physical and social aggressiveness, it could be that male candidates with lower voices are perceived as too aggressive when paired against a female opponent."

For the second, study participants listened to pairs of recorded voices that had been manipulated to vary only in pitch. These participants were then asked which voice of each pair was stronger, more competent, older, and which voice they would vote for. The study results of the experiment showed that the preference for leaders with lower-pitched voices correlates with the perception that speakers with lower voices are stronger, more competent, and older, but the influence of perception of age on vote choice is the weakest of the three.

Klofstad said, "These findings added to our understanding of why voters prefer leaders with lower voices."

The first study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source: ANI