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Tone of Voice Stays Constant Through Menstrual Cycle: Study

Last Updated: 2011-Apr-11  ::  (HealthDay)

MONDAY, April 11 (HealthDay News) -- The tone of a woman's voice remains constant throughout her menstrual cycle, claims a study that challenges previous research suggesting the tone rises as ovulation approaches.

Researchers at West Texas A&M University assessed 175 voice samples provided by 35 women at various points throughout the menstrual cycle and found that there were no changes in eight different voice parameters.

The study is to be presented Monday at the American Physiological Society's Experimental Biology meeting, in Washington, D.C.

For all the voice samples, the women read the same question: "Yesterday did the kindergarten children watch television after breakfast?"

The wording seems odd but was selected with care, explained Larry Barnes, head of the university's department of communications disorders.

"It's voice rich and provides a variety of characteristics," he said in an APS news release. He added that the voice recognition software used in the study only recognizes samples of connected speech such as full sentences.

More information

The American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery outlines common things that can affect your voice.

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