Boy Voice or Girl Voice? Pt. I

With some frequency, when a radio or television spot I've written is being produced, I am asked to express an opinion on this question: Should we use a male or female voice?

I usually force myself to come up with a preference but it is always a vague, subjective, "Oh, I don't know...how about...female!" Not very scientific.

Well, that may be about to change. I was just reading in a recent issue of Scientific American magazine about some research that had been conducted on men's brains.

The electrical activity of various regions of the brain was monitored as men listened to various male and female voices. As they did, an interesting pattern emerged...

When men heard women's voices, the centers of the brain that process music lit up and became active. But when they heard the voices of other men, the visual centers of the brain?those that process and interpret images? lit up instead. Interesting heh?

What does all this mean? I'm not sure. But it's possible that if you are producing a radio spot with men as the target, it may be much more effective to use a man's voice. Radio is "theater of the mind" and, according to this study, a man's voice will be more prone to paint mental "images."

What about women's brains? That's what the researchers wondered, so they've begun a similar study on women. I'll follow the research and report more in the future!

Read more here. And here.

Posted by David at November 3, 2005 10:54 PM