A room in pink and blue

DFG Research project: The acoustic and perceptual corrlates of gender in children's voices

SI 743/9-1/2, Duration May 2020 to April 2028
A room in pink and blue
Image: Adobe Stock / UnitedPhotoStudio

Project information

Postdoctoral research project of: Riccarda Funk, Project lead: Adrian P. Simpson de

Until puberty, there are hardly any anatomical and physiological differences in the vocal tract of girls and boys. Nevertheless, gender-specific differences in prepubertal voices have been repeatedly found, sometimes as early as the age of two and a half years. Furthermore, adult listeners are able to correctly identify a child's gender from speech samples at levels above chance. In some children's voices, recognition even exceeds 90%, reaching recognition rates comparable to those found in adult voices.

This project investigates the perceptual and acoustic correlates of gender in prepubertal voices through a longitudinal study. To date, speech recordings of the same children have been made at five time points (from first to fifth grade). Since the children's gender conformity may play an important role in acoustic and perceptual variation, this will also be assessed as part of the project. Additionally, various listening experiments will be conducted.

The aim of the project is to identify perceptual parameters that lead to robust or ambivalent gender assignments. We will investigate if these parameters correlate with a child's gender conformity. By conducting this as a longitudinal study, changes in the acoustic correlates of gender and gender conformity throughout childhood can also be observed.

All recordings made in the project will be collected in the LoKiS corpus. Interested researchers may be granted access to these data upon request.

As part of the DAAD project "Gender Construction in Prepubertal Voices: An Intercultural Comparison between Germany, Sweden, and Italy", further investigation will focus on how linguistic and cultural backgrounds influence the construction of gender in prepubertal voices.

Publications

Monographs, Articles and Conference Papers:

  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2025. How sibilant spectra shape gender perception in prepubertal children: A voice morphing study. In Proc. Interspeech 2025. Rotterdam, 963-967. DOI: 10.21437/Interspeech.2025External link
  • Funk, R. 2025. Die Perzeption von Geschlecht in präpubertären Stimmen. In: Sprache · Stimme · Gehör, EFirst. Georg Thieme Verlag. DOI: 10.1055/a-2611-2472External link
  • Funk, R. 2025. Die Entwicklung von Geschlecht in der präpubertären Stimme. Eine Langzeitstudie. Logos Verlag Berlin. ISBN 978-3-8325-5936-6External link. Digital verfügbar über DOI: https://doi.org/10.22032/dbt.64443External link.
  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2024. The effect of fundamental frequency on gender perception in prepubertal children – Insights from the LoKiS database. Journal of Voice. DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.04.010External link
  • Funk, R. & A. P. Simpson. 2023. The acoustic and perceptual correlates of gender in children’s voices. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00682External link
  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2024. Gender differences in children’s voice quality and their impact on gender perception – Insights from the LoKiS database. In Proc. Phonetik und Phonologie 20. Halle, in press.
  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2023. Speech tempo influences gender perception in prepubertal children. In Proc. Phonetik und Phonologie 19. Bern, 15-16. DOI: 10.48350/186731External link
  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2023. Phonetic correlates of gender in prepubertal voices. In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volìn (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague: Guarant International, 22-26. ISBN: 978-80-908 114-2-3External link
  • Funk, R., M. Weirich, & A. P. Simpson. 2023. The influence of fundamental frequency on gender perception in children’s voices – results from a longitudinal study. In 5th Phonetics and Phonology in Europe. Nijmegen, 93-94.
  • Funk, R. & A. P. Simpson. 2022. Die Entwicklung von Geschlecht in der präpubertären Stimme: Eine Langzeitstudie. In Proc. Phonetik und Phonologie 18. Bielefeld. DOI: 10.11576/pundp2022-1043External link

Invited Talks:

  • 09/2025: The acoustic and perceptual correlates of gender in children’s voices – Insights from the German LoKiS corpus (Stockholms universitet)
  • 09/2025: Exploring Gender in Children’s Voices – Perspectives from Speech Science in Germany (Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut)
  • 06/2025: Frauen sprechen anders – Männer auch! Soziale und biologische Einflüsse auf den stimmlichen Ausdruck von Geschlecht ("In Focus", FSU Jena, together with Inke Henneberger, Adrian Simpson, Nato Sulaberidze and Melanie Weirich)
  • 01/2025: Akustik und Perzeption von Geschlecht in Kinderstimmen: Einblicke in das LoKiS-Korpus (Linguistics Colloquium, Philipps University of Marburg)
  • 06/2024: The perception of gender in the voices of prepubertal German-speaking children. (Voice Research Unit, FSU Jena)
  • 04/2024: The influence of voice quality on gender perception in prepubertal children. (Humboldt University Berlin)