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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Determining Ultrasonic Vocalization Preferences in Mice using a Two-choice Playback Test
Published on: September 3, 2015
Gender-specific sensitivity to low frequencies in male speech
Michael D Hunter1, Soo-Yee Phang, Kwang-Hyuk Lee
1Sheffield Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory (SCANLab), Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, The Longley Centre, Norwood Grange Drive, Sheffield S5 7JT, UK. m.d.hunter@shef.ac.uk
Abstract:
The perception of human voices as naturally occurring sound objects may correspond to the detection of specific components of the frequency spectrum. In the current study, a psychophysical experiment was undertaken to investigate whether male and female listeners differed with respect to which frequencies were important in the perception of a male voice as a natural sound object. For females (but not males) the presence of low frequencies (<220 Hz), but not high frequencies (>4 kHz), was most crucial in the perception of a male voice as natural. This finding could be compatible with a neuroethological interpretation: low frequencies in the range that were studied are important in distinguishing male from female voices and mature from immature male voices.
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