Male Brains 'Not Wired' To Listen To Women

[Ryan Ruck]

Male Brains 'Not Wired' To Listen To Women

Men who are accused of never listening by women now have an excuse.

Scientists have found that women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to than men's.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield tracked activity in the brains of 12 men while playing recordings of different voices.

There were startling differences in the way the brain responded to male and female sounds.

Men deciphered female voices using the auditory part of the brain that processes music.

Male voices engaged a simpler mechanism at the back of the brain.

Researcher Dr Michael Hunter said today: "The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between men and women, and also due to women having greater natural `melody` in their voices. This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice.

"When a man hears a female voice the auditory section of his brain is activated, which analyses the different sounds in order to `read` the voice and determine the auditory face.

"When men hear a male voice the part of the brain that processes the information is towards the back of the brain and is colloquially known as the `mind's eye`. This is the part of the brain where people compare their experiences to themselves, so the man is comparing his own voice to the new voice to determine gender."

The findings, published in the journal NeuroImage, may help explain why people suffering hallucinations usually hear male voices, say the scientists.

It could be that the brain finds it much harder to conjure up a false female voice accurately than a false male voice.

Huh?

[Aplomb]

Scientists have found that women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to than men's.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield tracked activity in the brains of 12 men while playing recordings of different voices.
There were startling differences in the way the brain responded to male and female sounds.

While a study involving only 12 men is not impressive, it is a fact that men do not generally accept the content of that which women have to say. There are also other factors involved in the dismissal of comments by females that men are consistently at fault for. One of those would be that men hear a female "voice" and think about the cuteness or sexiness or sweetness, rather than the content. The content is then suspect because of already been judged by the "sound" of it. In addition, a woman may use words in a rather "entreating" way, whereas a man speaks with brashness or assurance. The "sound" of this male voice, then constitutes value in the substance of his dialogue. If a man can recognize that he is not listening to a female as an equal, he can correct his behaviour and end up with a self-created harem as a consequence. Sometimes we women do have important things to say, and while it is fun to be thought of as cute, there are those of us who will be slain by being thought of as intelligent, intriguing, and interesting.