Summary
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent lesbian women demonstrate
pitch and pitch variation that is different from that of heterosexual women.
Study Design
Static group comparison.
Methods
The average pitch and pitch variation of a group of 34 self-identified lesbian women
and an age-matched group of 68 heterosexual women were compared. The speech sample
consisted of read speech. Acoustic analysis was performed by means of PRAAT.
Results
Mean fundamental frequency in the group of lesbian women was significantly lower than
that of the group of heterosexual women. The lesbian woman also showed significantly
less pitch variation.
Conclusions
Lesbian women tend to demonstrate a lower average pitch and less pitch variation than
heterosexual women, but this does not mean a confirmation of the popular stereotype
that lesbian women are masculine women. In their assessment of clients with voice
disorders, clinicians should reckon with the sociophonetic variation that is associated
with sexual orientation.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 22, 2013
Accepted:
April 18,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
