06 Jan There’s a phase of your cycle when your voice makes other people’s skin tingle….
In past Hormonology Tips, I’ve mentioned how research shows your voice becomes more attractive during ovulation around the middle of your cycle.
Study results about what actually happens to your voice to make it more attractive on these days in your cycle have been mixed: Some research indicates that the pitch of your voice gets higher due to peaking estrogen. Other research suggests it gets lower due to peaking testosterone or, oddly, due to female movie stars purposely deepening the tone of their voices to appear more sultry in films–and then we subconsciously, or sometimes consciously, copy it.
But, no matter whether your pitch goes high or low, a 2015 study in the journal Physiology & Behavior reveals that during ovulation, your voice has the power to make skin tingle in both men and women who hear it.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the listener is getting the kind of goosebumpy, hair-standing-on-end tingles you get when you find out your grandmother was supposed to be on the ill-fated Titanic but had to cancel her reservation at the last minute or when someone cracks an imaginary egg over you and pretends to drip it down your head.
But, it is enough of a tingle to produce an increase in electrical activity in the skin by about 20 percent.
On top of that, this study found your mid-cycle voice change also increases the heart rate in listeners who hear it by about five percent.
Why would your voice produce these physical effects in others?
The researchers theorize that the change in pitch (in this study, the female voice got deeper) is a subtle cue that you’re fertile, which would help attract a male partner during ovulation and alert other women who would subconsciously use it as a warning to keep you far, far away from their mates.
I know, it’s all rather primitive and mate-based stuff. But, let’s face it–back in the days of yore when humans were just starting out, this kind of thing seemed rather important.
But, it’s interesting that in modern day, we still actually have these primitive hormone-fueled physical changes occurring in us.
That’s why I like to look for some practical, tangible, alternative way we can use these hormonal effects today.
One use I can think of is to plan to record a voicemail greeting or video voice-over or do a live presentation during the days you ovulate–which, specifically, are the last two days of your Week 2 and first day of your Week 3 (that’s Day 13, 14 and 15 in a 28-day cycle). This way, you can prompt a bigger emotional response in whoever’s listening, making them really perk up when they hear you!
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