[TheForge] OT-Men do have trouble hearing women, scientists find

[Rob Fertner]

Men who are accused of never listening by women now have an excuse --
women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to than other men's,
a report said.

The Daily Mail, quoting findings published in the specialist magazine

NeuroImage, said researchers at Sheffield university in northern England
discovered startling differences in the way the brain responds to male
and female sounds.

Men deciphered female voices using the auditory part of the brain that
processes music, while male voices engaged a simpler mechanism, it said.

The Mail quoted researcher Michael Hunter as saying, "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."

The findings may help explain why people suffering hallucinations
usually hear male voices, the report added, as the brain may find it
much harder to conjure up a false female voice accurately than a false
male voice.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britainsciencehearing&printer=1;_ylt=Am9xnX4
2Zy3IGlTJak5ze5HQOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-