一般来说女性更喜欢声音低沉的男子，认为他们更具有男子气概。但有研究认为，这些声音低沉的男性产生精液的器官情况并不大好，一项衡量精液质量的指标是射精时的精子浓度，带有诱人低声的男性在这方面处于劣势。
对男人而言，低沉的声调通常与一连串的阳刚特质有关，比如统治力、力量、较大的身躯、对女人更强的吸引力等等。然而，最新的研究却剔除了其中的一项特质——生殖能力。
一项澳大利亚的研究对男性声调、女性对其的看法以及男性的精子质量进行了调查。
研究过程中，小组对54名男子的声调和精液样本进行了测试。他们使用软件对记录进行分析，并让30名女性来对他们的吸引力或阳刚之气进行排行。
他们最先的研究结果没什么特别之处：女性更喜欢声音低沉的男子，认为他们更具有男子气概。然而接下来的一项研究结果却出乎人们的意料，他们发现这些男性产生精液的器官情况并不大好。一项用于衡量精液质量的指标是射精时的精子浓度，然而带有诱人低声的男性在这方面却处于劣势。
人类及其他物种中的女性通常被认为是通过男性的第二性征来获得有关男性性能力方面的信息，人类观察的是面部毛发、肌肉体积等，动物则观察其他特征，比如鸟类看的是羽毛。
就声调而言，来自澳大利亚西澳大利亚大学的研究人员表示这是一个需要权衡的地方。也就是说，那些与统治力、吸引力相关的特征，比如力量和低沉的声调将会导致精液质量的下降。12月21日他们将这项 研究 发表在了《公共科学图书馆•综合》(PLoS ONE)上。
研究者表示，较高水平的睾丸激素通常与更低沉的声调、更男性化的特征、更加具有统治力的行为以及更高的获得性伴侣成功率相关。虽然睾丸激素在精子形成时也起到了关键性的作用，但是高水平的睾丸激素实际上将会对精子生成造成损害。
Low Pitched Voices Are Perceived as Masculine and Attractive but Do They Predict Semen Quality in Men?
Leigh W. Simmons, Marianne Peters, Gillian Rhodes
Women find masculinity in men's faces, bodies, and voices attractive, and women's preferences for men's masculine features are thought to be biological adaptations for finding a high quality mate. Fertility is an important aspect of mate quality. Here we test the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis, which proposes that male secondary sexual characters are positively related to semen quality, allowing females to obtain direct benefits from mate choice. Specifically, we examined women's preferences for men's voice pitch, and its relationship with men's semen quality. Consistent with previous voice research, women judged lower pitched voices as more masculine and more attractive. However men with lower pitched voices did not have better semen quality. On the contrary, men whose voices were rated as more attractive tended to have lower concentrations of sperm in their ejaculate. These data are more consistent with a trade off between sperm production and male investment in competing for and attracting females, than with the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis.
文献链接：https://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029271
