# Why Do Some Adult Women Have 'Little-Girl' Voices? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397 "2003-09-18T16:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/81 "2013-01-15T19:19:20Z")
It is US history and stigma of sexist and southern accent. Girls really like to talk very high pitch because they think it sexy now and when you talk lower pitch you sound like you from south and have southern US accent. They don’t want to sound like they are guy or sound like they have southern US accent. They want to sound girly and sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/82 "2013-01-16T06:17:34Z")
> [@blueblonde](#): > > There’s a difference between having a naturally high pitched voice, and the little girl voice affect…I have a high pitched voice (and I’m 5’10" so I don’t think it’s related to height). I wish it was deeper, because I get the “is your mom home” on the phone all the time, but it’s just the voice I was born with! I agree that there is a difference, and I don’t think of a high-pitched voice as deliberately cutesy or annoying. I do think of the deliberately childish speech pattern that way. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/83 "2013-01-16T18:56:10Z")
> [@elfbabe](#): > > I went to high school with a girl with a very high-pitched voice. She sang alto, though, and had an EXTREMELY deep laugh. It was odd. I worked with a woman who was like that. Everyone noticed her “little girl” voice. Well, almost everyone noticed. I honestly didn’t notice it until they pointed it out several weeks after she was hired. The only thing I did notice was she had a beautiful singing voice she used when she was bored or doing something tedious. She later told me she sang in her church choir during an elevator ride and sang a bit…OH MY! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/84 "2013-01-20T23:38:18Z")
See, it’s never the pitch that creates the effect on me. It’s the timbre. It’s just a really pinched, closed off sounding voice. It’s a voice that sounds like someone doing helium. And, as I’m sure all you people know, helium doesn’t actually raise the pitch of your voice. I notice that some of you talk about lowering your voice to sound more professional. I wonder if you’d do better to try to open up your throat more, making your voice darker and more resonant instead of lower in pitch. I find that’s much easier to do. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/85 "2013-07-11T08:25:47Z")
The two actresses in 2 Broke Girls seem to have unnaturally high pitched and nasal voices. Is this what people are referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Phil\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@Phil\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phil_C)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/86 "2017-10-19T00:12:43Z")
> [@j.c](#): > > There is a way to find out what your “natural” voice is… but I forget that part of the story. You hum or pronounce certain words or something. Perhaps **Cervaise** learned it in acting class and can remind me. The method is described in a book, “Change Your Voice – Change Your Life” (1996), by Dr. Morton Cooper. The author instructs the reader to “speak from the mask”, meaning the central part of one’s face. When one is speaking in a natural voice, one will feel a resonant vibration in the forehead, nose and upper lip. It also results in maximum sound volume with minimum expenditure of energy. Many people nasalize, giving their voice a thin, pinched quality. This is exemplified by the “Valley Girl” style of speech, associated with girls who grew up in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles County. It is also heard in various areas around New York City. Dr. Morton also writes that people who continually speak in an unnatural voice cause extra strain on their vocal cords, risking permanent damage. ---
**Author:** ![Phil\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@Phil\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phil_C)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/87 "2017-10-19T00:27:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > … as I’m sure all you people know, helium doesn’t actually raise the pitch of your voice. Not true, as any deep-submergence divers breathing helium-oxygen mixture (heliox) can attest. This was a big problem during Jacques Cousteau’s “Conshelf II” long-duration underwater habitat experiment in the early 1960s. Support crew on the surface had difficulty understanding the “oceanauts” while communicating over the telephone link. When the oceanauts became stressed or excited, the pitch of their voices rose to the point that they became unintelligible. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/88 "2017-10-19T00:29:10Z")
Wow. Double zombie. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/89 "2017-10-19T00:38:14Z")
> [@Jpeg\_Jones](#): > > I can’t believe nobody’s asked _why_ there’s this “abused-girl” voice deal. > > What’s the theory behind it? Why would childhood abuse lead to a high voice tendency later in life? My youngest sister has a little girl voice, she was the youngest one of 4 kids I was the middle one lucky me ! ☹ B/c my sister was the ‘baby’ of the family she escape a lot of the abuse so she may had learned by being the baby in the family is kept her ‘safe’ up to a point . She could have gotten use to being the baby and using her little girl voice it became apart of her personality . My mom was very child like too and it drove me nuts ! I wanted a strong mother to protect me , when my sister messed up I was the one dad abused . So my sister could use her ‘little girl voice’ so I would get slapped my dad the monster . My sister is 67 yo and she still has a little girl voice which made it very hard for me to talk to her for long. I really don’t blame her for this I know it has a lot to with going with an abused violent alcoholic father and a very weak passive mother ! It think my sister ‘little girl voice’ was her ‘safety net’ . ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/90 "2017-10-25T21:16:56Z")
> [@Phil\_C](#): > > Not true, as any deep-submergence divers breathing helium-oxygen mixture (heliox) can attest. This was a big problem during Jacques Cousteau’s “Conshelf II” long-duration underwater habitat experiment in the early 1960s. Support crew on the surface had difficulty understanding the “oceanauts” while communicating over the telephone link. When the oceanauts became stressed or excited, the pitch of their voices rose to the point that they became unintelligible. I can tell you unequivocally that it does not, as the science behind the phenomenon is well understood. Speaking unintelligibly does not mean the fundamental frequency of their voice was raised. Nothing about helium makes your vocal chords vibrate any faster, which would be the only way the fundamental pitch would increase. What does change is how fast the sound moves. This changes the resonance, producing an effect that makes the vocal chords sound thinner and the resonance spaces in your nasopharynx (throat and nose) sound smaller. Once can mimic the effect in normal air not by speaking in the falsetto register, but making a very pinched off, nasally sound. I’d give citations, but there are so many on the [simplest of Google searches](https://www.google.com/search?q=helium+pitch) that I’m not sure which one to pick. I’ll give [one written in colloquial English](http://mentalfloss.com/article/21590/why-does-inhaling-helium-make-your-voice-sound-funny) by a pretty highly respected science-y site., and one [more technical link](https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/speechmodel.html). ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/91 "2017-10-25T23:44:56Z")
I knew a woman–actually she was my postdoc around 25 years ago–highly intelligent (PhD in math, of course), beautiful with a high little girl’s voice. Certainly, it wasn’t her choice or affected or anything. It just was her voice. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/92 "2017-10-26T00:05:20Z")
If a woman’s natural voice it can be hormonal, I’ve read several studies that women with higher pitched voices have higher estrogen levels, are rated more attractive, and are more fertile. The flip side of the coin is men with deeper voices may have higher testosterone and more female partners and offspring. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/93 "2017-10-26T02:45:19Z")
One thing I’ve noticed in the third world, is that women have unnaturally shrill voices, often nasalized. My theory is that women spend so much more time in the noisy market place, they need to develop voices that will penetrate the ambient noise. When removed to a quieter locale, they often drop the shrillness. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/94 "2017-10-26T13:59:20Z")
On the other hand, I’ve noticed that zombies never have little girl voices. I know a few women who will raise the pitch of their voices when they are seeking help, especially from a male authority figure. Not too “little girl” level, but definitely noticeably higher. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/95 "2017-10-26T23:12:11Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > There has got to be a difference between high-pitched and little-girl. Over the phone that might be harder for some telemarketer to distinguish, which is why I get asked if my parents are home. > > I am quite short and have a short neck. I think it’s just the way I’m set up. I’m very short too. I sing first soprano. The last time a caller asked to speak to my mom was before I hit puberty. One of the highest-pitched adult voices I commonly encounter belongs to a woman who is at least six feet tall and while not obese is a big fat woman. Practically in the echolocation category. A lot of women switch off the girly voice when men aren’t around. It’s a learned behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/96 "2017-10-27T04:40:03Z")
I know this is a zombie thread but I think it is still relevant. My ex-wife used to do it as well. We started going out when we barely 18 and assumed she would grow out of it but she didn’t on her own. She sounded exactly like a 7 year old even when she was a budding professional and callers would usually ask for her to put an adult on the phone. I warned her that it was embarrassing because so many people were commenting on it and I finally went ballistic when she didn’t even acknowledge it was a problem. I was looking into speech therapy when she decided to correct it on her own. She could always speak like like a normal person because she switched into a normal voice when she got mad. It was just an affection. She never gave a reason why she talked that way. I think it was just spoiled rich girl syndrome but it went on way too long. Luckily, she eventually took the message to heart and eventually started speaking like an adult. Our daughters didn’t inherit the problem thank goodness. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397/97 "2017-10-28T10:27:56Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It was just an affection. affectation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-adult-women-have-little-girl-voices/202397.md?page=4)