Is it an auditory illusion (we only perceive it to sound lower), or something with the vocal chord structure?
In: Physics
Because voices are not a single frequency. They have harmonics and atonal variations. That’s what gives people their distinct “voice.” And why some voices sound “better” than others, even if they are both on key.
When singing a note, the loudest frequency would be the frequency designated by the note being sung, but there are other frequencies that are layered with it. Men tend to have lower pronounced harmonics than women, so when they sing, more low frequencies are blended in than when a woman sings.
Think of it kind of like some sparkly car paint. You can have the same red base paint, and add different colors and amounts of sparkles and thinners to achieve different effects, from big silver sparkles, to a slight purple sheen, to color changing prismatic effects.
Men have a lower Timbre (tone color) then women do. It is like comparing the sound a saxophone makes compared to a flute. Even if they are playing the same note, you can hear the difference in the timbre.
This is a very interesting question. When you ask music people a question like this, you usually get a circular answer like “They have a lower timbre,” which of course just begs the question “What the hell is a timbre, and why can’t you just answer my question?” So that’s what I’m going to do.
The pitch of a sound made by an object is dependent on the speed of its vibration. A steel girder and a mouse whisker will make the same note if can get them moving at the exact same speed. But vibration can be more complicated than “object goes up, object goes down.” Within the main vibration there can be additional vibrations at other frequencies, usually at some whole number ratio to the main vibration.
What this means for human voice is that when you have larger vocal chords, you’re not just making the note that you’re singing. You’re also producing some lower notes as well. You can see this clearly when you load male and female voices into an audio editor like Audacity. If you raise the pitch of a male voice, you don’t get a female voice, even if you raised it to the exact frequency of a typical female voice. But if you take a male voice, and simply mute the lower components of it, leaving the higher notes alone, the voice will sound more like a female voice.
Pitch is just the speed that your vocal chords vibrate:
Faster = higher
Men usually have larger throats than women. The size and shape of the throat gives it a specific sound, but it’s still vibrating at the same speed.
not always true. listen to a recording of Janet Reno and Bill Gates talking, her voice was lower than his.
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