The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
necessarily sound more feminine - they just sound
warmer. In Reagan's case, however, the story doesn't end
there, because he often spoke in a whisper, especially
when he was on television. In recent years whispered
voices have become very popular, particularly among
male movie stars. Whispered speech is, by definition,
breathy speech at a lower volume. The attraction of quiet,
low-volume speech is that it creates an illusion of physical
closeness and psychological intimacy. When Reagan used
to deliver his cosy, fireside chats on television all these
vocal qualities combined - the depth of his voice making
him sound masculine, his breathiness making him sound
warm, and the whispered delivery making him appear
intimate and friendly.
It's no wonder that other politicians have taken a leaf
out of Reagan's book and modified their voice in order to
make them sound more attractive. Reagan's old pal
Margaret Thatcher, for example, was advised to lower her
voice a few octaves so that she would sound softer and
more concerned. Similar shifts in vocal register can be
heard in other British politicians, some of whom have
been coached to lower their voices in order to make them
sound less agitated and more human.
Evidence of the advantages offered by a deep voice may
be found in a study conducted by Stanford Gregory and
Timothy Gallagher, in which they compared the voices of
US presidential candidates in eight of the national
elections since 1960 (this did not include the last
election). 4 The authors examined 19 debates. Using
spectral analysis, they measured what's called the 'fundamental
frequency' of each candidate's voice, paying
special attention to the spectrum below .5 kHz. When
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