This research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, investigated the communication of gender in the human voice among primary school children.  A range of studies examined factors relating to the variations in the voices of pre-pubertal boys and girls, where sex differences in pitch and resonance can be found despite the absence of any anatomical explanations.  A variety of carefully controlled studies revealed findings such as:

• both children and adults associate children's voices with different levels of masculinity and femininity, depending on pitch and resonance;
• children appear to alter aspects of their voices according to situational factors (such as when trying to make friends with an audience that is gender-stereotypical or not);
• children associate differences in voice with particular gender-stereotyped jobs, accentuating vocal masculinity or femininity when emulating people with jobs such as being a builder or a nurse. 

The research was led by Professor David Reby, in collaboration with Professors Jane Oakhill, Alan Garnham, and Robin Banerjee, and Research Fellow, Dr Valentina Cartei.  Publications from the project can be found on the CRESS publications page.