The things we say and the way we say them affect a lot beyond personal space as voices launched with fear, joy and love interact. So, with a syllable, word, sentence and phrase trying to survive or gain consent, the pitch of your voice may give you away as the back and forth turns into a struggle. Of course, what’s at stake depends on your agenda and culture, time and headspace but in the end it comes back to same thing where verbal communication is a battleground, for many.

In fact, talking can be an illusive power play in trying to label the process. It’s like an inverted swan with the proverbial paddling like fury above, with grace buried somewhere beneath. So, as the human body emits its signals, the tone in your voice climbs ever so slightly or the look in your eyes is severed from a smile while anxiety reveals, a silent cry. A sudden feeling that your place in this world means less than it did before a comment or action, by someone else.

So, what is it about communication that makes us so fragile and wary of others?

Well, the nature of physics is what we can’t see as a loathing from school, sits with you still. Yet, within its particles, boundaries and fields we’ll find measures of frequency and the messages they yield. Those vibrations through a liquid, a gas or other substance; the subject and the essence combined with existence. Well, it’s what they call sonic that well and truly matters when it comes to the timbre or shape of your voice.

In a 2021 study at the University of Göttingen, researchers looked at whether or not variations in voice patterns were linked to different personality traits, in over two thousand participants of both sexes. In conclusion, they said:

‘We provide the first evidence that voice pitch might be a valid cue to at least some self-reported personality traits in men and women, including extraversion, dominance, sociosexual orientation including facets of behaviour, attitude and desire. Thus, personality might at least partly be expressed in voice pitch in men and women.’

So, the sonic and pitch quality in your voice may determine your luck in all areas of life from smiling in a bar, to that interview for a job. This is so true that the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher took up voice training with a Shakespearean actor, so as to enhance her relationship with colleagues and the public.

‘Now, Mr Chairman, because I hold some of these views, I’m dubbed as a reactionary. “Margret Thatcher, reactionary.” Well, Mr Chairman, there’s a lot to react against! [Applause].

It’s the fear of rejection all over again which is no less philosophical, in it’s impact and form. It’s also a tiny matter of feeling as though you exist in a place with the power to be told: you’ll never quite earn that regard or an ounce of validation. Surely, it’s existential death by a thousand cuts as each one deepens your need to be wanted, through a hunger that may never be satisfied. Until, that is, you starve it with the contempt it requires but that in itself is a difficult thing where the currency of need comes first. It’s a predictable clash with a transactional self, as emotional barriers step in.

So, various studies, with this particular research looking at females, have linked a tone of voice to questions of dominance and attractiveness as our first impressions of others are made in seconds, split thinly apart. So, where people’s voices are said to show particular qualities that appeal to others through evolutionary means, research has asked whether or not male voices have been influenced by sexual selection and a reproductive value.

Clearly, frequency matters on different levels which at best means favourable terms throughout a life and at worst, relationships full of screaming, shouting and all kinds of hating. Everyday speech, for instance, registers at around 55 to 65 decibels (dB) while a shouting voice lands at an impactful 85dB or above. For context, a power tool is around 90dB and interestingly, it’s been shown that hearing a human scream or the equivalent voice pitch activates the brain circuitry involved in managing fear. So, where the average man’s voice can range from between 78 to 182Hz, and a woman’s 126 to 307Hz, a human scream can hit 150Hz, in frequency.

Well, the things we say and the way we say them are important, meaning as the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously said:

‘Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.’

Certainly, but will people actually hear that?

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Images:

Children Shouting, by Sarah Richter Art, Pixabay – Main Image
Old Men Talking, by Pixabay

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