A university research team says it has discovered why most people "hearing voices" in hallucinations say they hear male voices. Dr Michael Hunter's research at the University of Sheffield says that male voices are less complex to produce than female. As such, when the brain spontaneously produces its own "voices", a male voice is more likely to have been generated. Among both men and women, 71% of such "false" voices are male. "Psychiatrists believe that these auditory hallucinations are caused when the brain spontaneously activates, creating a false perception of a voice," says Professor Hunter of the university's psychiatry department. "The reason these voices are usually male could be explained by the fact that the female voice is so much more complex that the brain would find it much harder to create a false female voice accurately than a false male voice," he says. Such imaginary voices are typically likely to be middle-aged and carry "derogatory" messages.

The research, published in NeuroImage, shows how the brain interprets information from human voices - and how female and male voices activate different parts of the brain. "The female voice is more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between women and men, 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," says Professor Hunter.

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This guy is being PAID to research Imagined Voices to find the gender? How do you get a job like that?

And the Female Voice is NOT more complex, simply higher in Frequency.

Heck, even their Word Content is less complex than a Mans. Men don't wast time thinking of silly things like Shoes and Shopping, and the legth of their finger nails!

yup, we don't talk on thephone 24 hours a day too.... adn make them pay for it....

Just wanted to make it clear that there ARE some girls out there who aren't like what you mentioned!

I am a female- and yes I admit, the majority of my gender does care too much about materialistic things. But there are still some of us who are not 'princesses'.

I could care less about nails- my nails are short and unpolished. The *ONLY* time I ever had my nails done was over 10 years ago for when I was in my sister's wedding.

Shoes- I am not into shoes. I own 2 pairs of shoes- which aren't technically shoes they are converse sneakers. Oh and a pair of Hiking Boots!

Shopping- I do like shopping BUT what I enjoy shopping for is not clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc....
My shopping trips are mainly to the electronics department and video game stores where I buy new DVDs, Video Games, or other stuff like that I happen to need.
Oh and of course the toy department is always fun to stop by and see if there's any new game character toys to display on the shelf, and Pet stores for my animals.

Telephones- I ***hate*** telephones. I have more interesting things I can be doing than sitting down with a chunk of plastic against my ear babbling to people. If people want to talk to me I'd rather go to an arcade or diner with them, or even a walk with the dog, and talk while doing that rather than sitting on my floor.

My wardrobe is far from 'elegant'. If I can get a pair of comfy pants at Wal-Mart for $9.99, why should I go to the mall and spend $49.99+ on a similar pair just for some brand name tag on my butt...
And most of my shirts have a video-game themed design (Unlike alot of girls, Video Games are a BIG part of my life! I love them! I have been playing since the ATARI and still keep up with the new systems. I'll ALWAYS be a gamer. I am 26 now and I know I'll still be playing when I am wrinkled and gray

Unlike most other girls I know, I am not into the whole 'big fancy wedding' and spitting out lots of babies lifestyle.
If I never get married it won't bother me. And if I do find someone I find worthy of marrying lol, I'll be eloping.

No I do NOT like 'romance' movies. If you're gonna take me on a movie date it better be either an action/adventure or Sci-Fi movie like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc. Or an animated film as I am a cartoonist and always loved cartoons.

And if you want to go to dinner afterwards, take me to Taco bell or Arby's! I don't need no fancy resturant....

I don't like 'long walks on the beach' lol. I hate the beach. Give me the woods & mountains any day! I'll have more fun looking for frogs in ponds and snakes under rocks than collecting pretty shells in the sand!

Ok I am gonna stop now before this sounds too much like a classified ad lol.
But just wanted to clear up that not EVERY female falls under the 'prissy, materialistic' category

Oh and BTW yea that whole 'figuring out the gender of imaginary voices' is a waste of time and money that should be spent researching IMPORTANT things that will actually HELP humanity....

For though's that know me its known I like to BAIT People with Stereotype posts, Just to get a response. There are a lot of Feminists out there that are a little Militant in their view of the Differences of our sexs.

Though if I were free to chose( and if my Wife would LET ME) I would prefer the company of women like your self Moon Fox.


Flirt! Flirt!

Bah, I hear female voices in my head all the time, I barely ever hear male voices,......I mean,uh, never mind......................

I think this doctor is just thinking too hard....

Yeah I got my nails down years ago I'm not sure maybe nine or so and I really didn't like it either. I would rather buy DVD's CD's and yes shoes. Okay I'm a bloody shoe horse! But getting back to the topic of hand they could really spend more time on other important things then analyzing the voices in our heads. My gods.

I'm happy for this research - It holds great implications for therapy later in life.

I really should clarify

In therapy it is not uncommon for people to assume that victims of schizophrenia only hear male voices because they hate woman. Thats just one example.