A woman’s voice may not change throughout her cycle, a study finds

Changes in a woman’s body may occur throughout the month, but the tone of her voice might not be one of them.

New research presented this week at the Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, D.C., challenges previous studies indicating there were detectable variations in a woman’s voice at various times over her menstrual cycle that could be linked to hormone levels.

Researchers from West Texas A&M University in Canyon analyzed 175 voice samples from 35 women that were recorded at four times during two cycles: the menstrual phase (estrogen and progesterone levels are low), the follicular phase (estrogen increases but progesterone is low), the ovulatory phase (estrogen is high and progesterone is low) and the luteal phase (both estrogen and progesterone are high).

They were asked to utter the sentence, “Yesterday did the kindergarten children watch television after breakfast?” chosen because it was a complete sentence and “It’s voice rich and provides a variety of characteristics,” said co-author Larry Barnes in a news release.

After measuring eight voice parameters the study authors found no statistically significant differences in the women’s voices at various times during their cycles. No substantial differences were found between women who used hormone-based contraceptives and those who didn’t.