Analysis of Voice Pitch, Perception of Male Sexual Orientation, and Homonegativity

This research is looking at how people perceive male voice pitch. The hypothesis in this research is that after controlling for homonegativity, the lower voice will be rated as heterosexual more often than the higher voice which will be rated as homosexual. This study aims to find if there is any relation between different voice pitches and how a listener interprets the sexual orientation of a person, based on the voice alone. A recording was made of a male voice reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. That recording was then copied into three files. One of the files was digitally altered to be 10% lower then the original; another file was digitally altered to be 10% higher then the original. All three recording were used in the experiment. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups: high voice, average voice, low voice. The only differences in these three groups are the participants and the voice to which the participants listen. The participants are asked to truthfully fill out the evaluation of the voice they hear on the recording. A homonegativity measure (Modern Homonegativity Scale-Gay) is used as a covariate because those who score high on the measure will most likely judge the sexual orientation of the high and low voices differently. Data has not been analyzed at this time, so no results have been collected and no conclusion has been made