A new research published in the journal PLoS ONE and led by Leigh
Simmons, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia, revealed
that low-voiced men tend to have lower sperm counts.
For the study, 54 heterosexual
men, between the ages of 18 and 32, and 30 heterosexual women, aged between 18 and 30, were recruited by advertisement from the campus of the University of
Western Australia. The voices of the male volunteers were recorded.
Then, the female volunteers listened to the records and rated the voices in
terms of attractiveness and masculinity. It was not surprise that women rated
deep voices as most alluring, since studies have also found that women tend to
favor masculine features, such as high muscle mass, prominent jaws, and
low-pitched voices. Men were asked to collect semen samples with specific instructions, as semen quality depends on the context in which the ejaculate is collected. The sperm was entered into a computer-assisted sperm-analysis system in order to analyze its ability to swim towards the target: the egg, as well as the number of sperm in the semen.
The results showed that, contrary
to the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis, men with attractive voices do not
have better semen quality than those with less desirable voices. Deep-voiced
men sperm were perfectly motile and fertile; in fact, all sperm counts measured in the study were within healthy
parameters.
The only difference is that low-pitched men tend to have lower
concentrations of sperm in their ejaculate. One of the reasons for this to
happen is the male hormone testosterone, which not only lowers voice pitch, but
also thwarts sperm production.
This study has been misinterpreted by some people, since it was understood
that lower-voiced men are likely to be infertile. But the truth is that men with deep voice; thus, lower sperm counts are as able to procreate
as higher-pitched voiced men.
Do you think alcohol and/or smoking affects and lowers men voices; thus, their sperm quality? Or is it just a biological thing?
What I reckon is that is possible to be true. The question you wrote provides the key: external factors. Not only do smoking and/or drinking alcohol affect vital organs such as lungs and liver, but also a person’s throat, vocal chords and, therefore, your voice. I’m not quite sure is people who have developed a deeper voice naturally—like James Earl Jones or Jeremy Irons—could have that problem, but I believe that other substances can actually affect a man’s voice and his concentration of sperms.
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