The Sound of Voice: Voice-Based Categorization of Speakers' Sexual Orientation within and across Languages

Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency) and to non-native spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-07, Vol.10 (7), p.e0128882-e0128882
Main Authors: Sulpizio, Simone, Fasoli, Fabio, Maass, Anne, Paladino, Maria Paola, Vespignani, Francesco, Eyssel, Friederike, Bentler, Dominik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Acoustics
Animals
Auditory Perception
Classification
Cues
Developmental psychology
English language
Female
Foreign languages
Gender differences
German language
Heterosexuality
Homosexuality
Humans
Italian language
Judgment
Language
LGBTQ linguistics
Linguistics
Listening
Male
Males
Mice
Perceptions
Phonetics
Physiology
Self concept
Sexual behavior
Sexual orientation
Sexuality
Socialization
Sound
Stereotypes
Studies
Voice
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Summary:Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency) and to non-native speakers (language-specificity), has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0128882