People with low voices are considered to be more attractive

Vocal communication is known to be one of the most important human characteristics and those who speak in a lower pitch are regarded as "big and intimidating" by others.

In their study, a team from Penn State University selected two male and two female voice recordings – all repeating identical words – with the pitch in the clip edited until 12 different pieces were created.

These were played to over 3,100 people across 22 countries, who were quizzed about which voice sounded most attractive, flirtatious, formidable and prestigious.

Professor David Puts, co-author of the study, said: "A low voice pitch exaggerates size.

"It makes an organism, whether it's a person or non-human primate, seem big and intimidating."

Professor Puts added: "Understanding how voice pitch influences social perceptions can help us understand social relationships more broadly, how we attain social status, how we evaluate others on social status and how we choose mates."

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