The perception of coolness: Differences in evaluating voice quality in male and female speakers

We investigated possible motivations for the perceived increase in the use of creaky voice by young speakers by having listeners evaluate pairs of stimuli produced by different speakers in three different voice qualities (modal, creaky, breathy), along four different dimensions (coolness, youthfulness, attractiveness and authoritativeness). Generally, modal voice was the most preferred voice quality in each dimension, and creaky voice was the least preferred. However, creaky voice did yield a greater number of "authoritative" judgments. Judgments also differed according to the sex of the speaker: creaky voice made men sound more "cool" and "attractive", while listeners were more likely to select breathy voice as the preferred voice quality for women for all four dimensions. These findings indicate that speakers may be tapping into creaky voice as a means of establishing "authority", although women may additionally be using it more to tap into the sociolinguistic status of men.