Attention ladies! A new study shows that men can instinctively tell when a woman is on her period just by listening to her voice- and this is because she sounds less attractive!

Research done by Psychologist Nathan Pipitone at Adams State College and Gordon Gallup, from SUNY-Albany revealed that men chose the most unattractive voice as the ‘menstrual voice’.

Researchers asked three groups of men to guess when women were having their period after listening to voice recordings of 10 women at four different points in their menstrual cycle, in random order. Incredibly, the men chose the menstrual voice 35% of the time.  

Nathan Pipitone explained that hormone levels can cause changes in the vocal chords and said:

"The men seemed to determine the menstrual voices by picking the most unattractive voice. Vocal production is closely tied to our biology. For example, cells from the larynx and vagina are very similar and show similar hormone receptors."

In evolutionary terms, Males repellence to menstruation - whether they are aware of it or not - seems logical because males will seek females who are ovulating in order to pass on their genes.

Pipitone said: 'The men seemed to determine menstrual voices by picking the most unattractive voice.'

He added that it is hormones that give the women away, by inducing vocal change.

Interestingly, however, therewas no effect of voice attractiveness and menstrual cycle phase for females taking hormonal contraceptives.

These results show that the female voice changes in pitch and frequency during their menstrual cycle- men find woman’s voices more attractive when they are fertile and less attractive when they are menstruating. Nathan Pipitone concludes by suggesting “menstrual cycle-induced changes in fertility may, along with other changes, help explain recent findings showing that lap dancers make significantly more tip revenue when they are in midcycle”

Last Modified: 30/01/2012