Real Reason Men Don't Listen to Women

He really isn't listening to you! But you won't believe the reason why. When men and women speak, the human brain processes the sounds of those voices differently, Britain's Mirror and Agence France Presse report of a new study from the U.K.'s University of Sheffield. While most of us actually hear female voices more clearly, men's brains hear women's voices first as music. But it's not music. It's someone giving them a honey-do list. So the brain goes into overdrive trying to analyze what is being said.


Bottom line: Men have to work harder deciphering what women are saying because they use the auditory part of the brain that processes music, not human voices. Men's brains are not designed to listen to women's voices. It's not the pitch of the woman's voice, but rather the vibration and number of sound waves that cause the problem, notes Discovery News. But guys have no trouble at all hearing each other because men use a much simpler brain mechanism at the back of the brain to decipher another man's voice and recognize it as speech.


"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," lead researcher Michael Hunter told The Mirror. "When men hear a male voice they process it in 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."


Here's a really bizarre side effect: These findings help explain why people who suffer hallucinations usually hear male voices. It's just too hard for the brain to create a false feminine voice as accurately as it can create a false masculine voice. The research findings were published in the journal NeuroImage.

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I for one have no problem listening to woman when they speak, and I definitely don't hear a woman's voice as music. Also, who is to say men don't listen to woman? I thought it was just a stereotype used on bad sitcoms. I dont know about the rest of you, but this sounds like complete rubbish to me.

I think every Guy with a Girlfriend on earth, is going to use this as an excuse

I work at a radio station and I have learned that the female voice indeed does have a much higher wavelength. We are supposed to make sure the needle stays out of the red, and every time a womans voice comes on in a commercial or whatever, the volume has to be adjusted down as to not cause feedback.

So if it is painful for a radio , it must be painful to the human ear. Maybe this is why we men have a tendancy to tune women out, because it's just too painful. lol

Nah, I love women.

Jerry

Lol, interesting read.
What if it's an overly masculine, hairy female?

The i'd run

Interesting, maybe the male brain is not used to listening to woman. I mean for thousands of years men have been above woman, so meaning men didnt really have to listen to them.
Just for the last century men really started listening to woman, so the male brains havent really fully evolved yet

No offence but I think this is the reason

I heard this on the radio few men admitted to stare at woman's chest instead of listening

That may be true, and probably is true for many men, but thats not what the article was focusing on. I believe what you said is a more realistic excuse for not listening, however.

Somebody please answer that.

I'm not looking at your boob's they are looking at me

had to take out stupid remark

Just a little note here. I studied sound engineering, so I should know a thing or two about it.
It can only feedback if you have a loop. For instance a microphone and a speakerbox, connected to eachother (through an amp or so).
If the needle enters the red on your meters, that would mean you're overloading. It would distort the sound. However, radiostations should have a compressor/limiter to avoid this from happening in the transmitter and to ensure all sounds are pretty much the same volume.

I disagree with the premise. I think men DO listen to women. At least I do..

Men DO listen to Woman. This study is absoloubtly BS.

Indeed men do listen to women, I know I do and to be honest from what I`ve seen I`ve seen more women not listen to men, but then agains some men are just morons anyways......

I think that men don't listen to women (and vice versa) when the message becomes repetitive. When either sex hears the same old thing, time after time , the common complaints, it gets tuned out by both sexes. Including the most common complaint, "You never listen to me."

Yeah this study is rubbish.

It's boring, nagging voices that I don't hear, like from a wife/mother/girlfriend telling you to tidy up or wash the dishes or stop watching TV or stop blah on the blah stop blah clean blah dirty blah blah blah.....

....still, at least it teaches you the value of silence

I take no offense, Baku...

...I agree, maybe men's brains haven't fully evolved yet.



Thanks, I needed that.

frist of all I BETTER LISTEN TO MY WIFE IF I KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR ME. And second I don't believe you said that Baku

I listen to women the first time. The second time I listen less. The third time it comes as a faint echo. The fourth time I turn it off. If women would say something one time and let it go, men would listen.

If they ever said something worth listening to...

Maybe its just me but Ive never had a problem listening to either sex. My exs and current have said im a good listener. U sure its not cause there off in there own world or thnk that the person talking has nothing important they wanna hear?

And me to aztec ive met a girl that didnt listen.

I don't need anyone to tell me that. Cuz it's was pretty easy to understand. I never heard this from anyone else till now and knew that. It's only common sense.

I think the fact that people don't "listen" has to do with selective hearing and that applies to both sexes, not only men...

What was that Wabbit, I wasn't listening

Indeed you old sod what are you doing here?

WOW!! I love this topic! I've been married for 17 years now & I grew up in a whole house full of men. So, I've heard this 8itch many times over.

I don't think it has to do with just soundwaves. It also has to do with interest. Men & women (in general) have their minds on different things. I know that being raise with men, I have very little in common interest-wise with women. I like a lot of things that would make me "a red-neck girl". I don't like to shop, I don't read romantic type novels, I hate sappy love stories & I'd rather drink a beer or a shot of Jack instead of a glass of wine. Does this make me less of of woman? In some people's books, maybe. But my hubby & all my friends love me as I am. So I don't really care!

I also read years ago in a newspaper about how German scientists found that men had 100 million more brain cells than men, with no marked increased intelligence. When I read this to my hubby, he gave me a primitive grunt & said, "I'm sorry what did you say?" Well, that answers it!!! The additional braincells block the males ability to hear the woman, unless she says something about, "Dinner's ready!"

Now, no one get offended please!! I enjoy knowing & being friends with many men. I like that they are so down-to-earth. I just know that men & women talk on differing levels & in ways of expressing themselves. Neither are right or wrong...just different!

40nrockinon

Yeah, women say silly things about socks on the floor when you are watching tv! I'm paying attention to the tv, I am listening to what is said on tv (or reading newspaper or sleeping, you know, important things).

*nods vigorously* Music to my ears ....

... seriously, scientists can prove anything if someone gives 'em a big enough budget can't they?

Well, men and women DO have documented differences in communication. I don't know if it's caused from sound waves (I kind of doubt it, at least to a large degree), but men do have trouble focusing on more than one thing at at a time. So when they are watching TV and a women tries to talk, they will not pay attention bc they are already focused. Women are better multi-taskers, so we don't understand how a man can't listen as well as do something else at the same time, and then we tend to get all huffy about it.

this is the truth!

we have a term for theories like that in the UK....


but I cant repeat it here, so I will say 'cobblers' instead

That was, "Blah, blah, blabadeeblah, blah, blah. Jerk!"

heyyyyyyyyy don't get me in twouble! I didn't call him a jewk!

lol

Sorry. Let the records show, that was all me.

t'was fine with me... just that I don't know him that well to call him that...


give me a few more months

you only find something if you look for it. this is very much the case of research focused on finding DIFFERENCES between males and females.

the responses to this thread demonstrate how well established various social concepts are, and as such are accepted without thought or consideration. good to know a lack of understanding of the invalidity of n=1 is strong in this area.

You married?........might give you a whole new perspective on this issue. This totally explains why when the wife sends me to the store to get bread, I return with a newspaper and a candy bar.

If you were willing to share the candy bar, I bet your wife would be forgiving.

Why wait

Men just have selective hearing. Because no matter what they are doing or focused on certain words out of a womans mouth will in fact get their attention . They tend to just tune out alot of things but i garentee just mention um a few words that do get their attention before going into whatever else u were saying that they normally would tune out. lol

Didnt mean to be kinda vague but wanted to keep it pg rated.

Awww, indeed isn't a jerk at all. I was just making a point.

I tend to use this line when talking to a male and discovering that I just spend the past 10 minutes talking to myself....

"A**hole, I'm talking to you"


it doesn't work

Try mentioning the magical words "naked" or "thong".

ha ha ha

all this self absorbtion! perhaps the problem is not in the audience but the speaker.

That's it. You're not getting ANY!

gawd jenn, you crack me up!

my bonnie wee lass, before you are so certian i won't get any you should be certian of what it is i desire.

Relationships are like a fire that must be cared for if it is to last. The problems with western world relationships stem from the divisive nature of society itself. Children raised separated by gender, and then thrust back together in a "game" of dating where people act their best. It it no suprise there are such problems when the problems begin before the child is even born.

Relationships must begin at the ground level to be complete and strong. They must be maintained, extended, remolded. Relationships are alive. Far too many people treat relationships they way they treat a hunting expedition. "Its in the bag", so they hang it on the wall as a trophy. If a mere trophy is all you hope to get, it is the most you will get.

It is the smile and the glimmer in the eye that means more than anything else.

[quote=hyperactive,Sep 20 2005, 02:52 PM]
[quote=JennRose,Sep 20 2005, 06:58 AM][quote=hyperactive,Sep 20 2005, 10:53 AM]ha ha ha

all this self absorbtion!  perhaps the problem is not in the audience but the speaker.
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That's it. You're not getting ANY!
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my bonnie wee lass, before you are so certian i won't get any you should be certian of what it is i desire.

Relationships are like a fire that must be cared for if it is to last. The problems with western world relationships stem from the divisive nature of society itself. Children raised separated by gender, and then thrust back together in a "game" of dating where people act their best. It it no suprise there are such problems when the problems begin before the child is even born.

Relationships must begin at the ground level to be complete and strong. They must be maintained, extended, remolded. Relationships are alive. Far too many people treat relationships they way they treat a hunting expedition. "Its in the bag", so they hang it on the wall as a trophy. If a mere trophy is all you hope to get, it is the most you will get.

It is the smile and the glimmer in the eye that means more than anything else.
[right][snapback]853834[/snapback][/right]
[/quote
Little things in a relationship are what is important, they are mostly over shadowed byn the big things.

Really? I always thought they were more like jello...