Men Hear Women's Melodies

I recently read an article by David Epstein called “Men Hear Women’s Melodies.” In the article, the Epstein explains that “Women's voices stimulate an area of the brain used for processing complex sounds, like music. Male voices activate the "mind's eye," a region of the brain used for conjuring imagery.” I thought that the second sentence regarding men’s voices activating the part of the brain used for imagery was interesting because as we have learned in class, men use the right side of their brain the most, which is the side of the brain related to spatial abilities.

The article also had other interesting quotes. “[Michael Hunter suggests that] women generally have shorter vocal cords and a smaller larynx, giving them higher-pitched voices. Women's voices may also have more ‘natural melody,’ he adds. Qualities like pitch and volume vary more during speech. ‘There's more prosody in female speech.’ Newspaper articles about Hunter's research said that men find the female voice more difficult to hear and understand. But Hunter thinks the opposite is true. Because the brain is apparently deciphering the modulation in women's voices, a female voice might be able to communicate more information per sentence than a male voice.”