U.S. President Barack Obama speaks next to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a joint news conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, February 4, 2011.JIM YOUNG/Reuters
A new study suggests voters are drawn to political candidates with lower-pitched voices.
The work done at McMaster University in Hamilton used archival recordings of nine U.S presidents, whose voices were manipulated to be higher- or lower-pitched.
Lead author Cara Tigue says study subjects listened to the recordings, and said they would prefer to vote for the candidates with lower-pitched voices.
When the subjects were told the election was taking place in a wartime scenario, lower voice pitch was more strongly associated with physical prowess than with integrity.
In a second study of men's voices that didn't involve U.S. presidents, participants also preferred to vote for the candidate with the lower-pitched voice when given a choice.
The researchers conclude it is possible that artificially lowering one's voice pitch in audio recordings could help candidates gain votes.