ORIGINAL PAPER Vocal and Physiological Changes in Response to the Physical Attractiveness of Conversational Partners Susan M. Hughes • Sally D. Farley • Bradley C. Rhodes Published online: 11 April 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract We examined how individuals may change their voices when speaking to attractive versus unattractive individuals, and if it were possible for others to perceive these vocal changes. In addition, we examined if any concurrent physiological effects occurred when speaking with individuals who varied in physical attractiveness. We found that both sexes used a lower-pitched voice and showed a higher level of physiological arousal when speaking to the more attractive, opposite-sex target. Furthermore, independent raters evaluated the voice samples directed toward the attractive target (versus the unattractive target) as sounding more pleasant when the two voice samples from the same person presented had a reasonably perceptually noticeable difference in pitch. These findings may have implications for the role voice plays in mate selection and attraction. Keywords Vocal changes Á Attractiveness Á Voice Á Physiological responses Á Romantic attraction Introduction The sound of a person’s voice can communicate a wealth of biologically and socially important information to potential mates. For instance, the voices of those with greater bilateral body symmetry are rated as sounding more attractive than those possessing less symmetrical features, and body symmetry has been shown to be a marker of developmental fitness (Hughes et al. 2002). Vocal attractiveness is also significantly correlated with other physical markers of fitness and hormonal status (e.g., waist-to-hip ratio in women and shoulder-to-hip ratio in men), in addition to predicting numerous sexual behaviors (Hughes et al. 2004). Hughes et al. (2004) found that for both sexes, those with more attractive voices reported having sex at an earlier age, more sexual partners, and more sexual S. M. Hughes (&) Á B. C. Rhodes Department of Psychology, Albright College, Reading, PA 19612, USA e-mail: shughes@alb.edu S. D. Farley University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA 123 J Nonverbal Behav (2010) 34:155–167 DOI 10.1007/s10919-010-0087-9