The Effect of Surgeon Vocal Pitch and Gender on Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction scores, especially the "likelihood to recommend" (LTR) a provider, are becoming increasingly important as measures of surgical quality. In this study, we examined the influence of a surgeon's vocal pitch and gender on patients' perceptions of surgeons' skills and attributes.

Experimental study design.

Academic tertiary hospital.

Eight volunteer voice actors (4 cisgender females and 4 cisgender males) were recorded portraying a surgeon reading an identical script on informed consent for tracheostomy. Each recording was pitch-modulated both upward and downward. 2500 adult volunteers were randomly assigned to listen to one of the recordings. Subsequently, they completed the Press-Ganey 5-point Likert surveys, as well as their perceptions of the acting surgeon's intelligence, experience, competence, and attractiveness. Ratings were analyzed using multivariate regression analyses.

Female surgeons' voices were rated as friendlier (4.36 ± 0.79 vs 4.24 ± 0.84, P < .001) and showed more concern (4.24 ± 0.83 vs 4.16 ± 0.91, P < .05), compared to their male counterparts. However, both groups received comparable overall LTR scores (4.20 ± 0.85 vs 4.18 ± 0.87, P = .52). Surgeons with a lower modulated pitch were perceived as more experienced, regardless of gender (92.3% vs 89.1%, P < .01). "Confidence" in surgeons was most strongly correlated with LTR.

While female surgeons' voices were associated with more compassionate attributes, this did not result in higher patient satisfaction scores compared to male surgeons' voices. The pitch of a surgeon's voice and their gender can influence patients' perceptions of their skills and attributes.