Fertile women 'sound sexier'

06 May 2008

Women speak in a more attractive way when they are most fertile, claims American scientific research.

New Scientist Magazine discovered a study that alleges a woman's voice is sexiest when at the peak of their menstrual cycle.

In an investigation by the State University of New York at Albany, women were recorded counting from one to ten at four different stages during their menstrual cycle with the results being played to male and female students.

Students were then asked to grade the voices by levels of attractiveness with the recordings of women who were ovulating judged as the sexiest.

Men could detect changes in a woman's voice because of the way sex hormones affected the larynx with a slightly higher pitch on high-fertility days, the research suggested.

Dr David Feinberg, from the McMaster University in Canada, told the BBC: "While it's possible, the other issue is that women do have mood changes across their menstrual cycle, and people might just be attracted to a happy-sounding woman, rather than a fertile one."

Oral contraceptives, which change the ratio of sex hormones during the cycle, were proved to have no affect on the study.

Results of the research were originally published in the journal of Human Evolution and Behaviour.

Discuss this item in our forums

Like this? Subscribe to RSS feed!

---

	Related news
	More couples turning to IVF » Women urged to open up about pregnancy problems » Perfumes linked to fertility problems  » Sandi Thom feeling broody  » Coleen, Wayne hope for lots of kids  » All news »