In this way, we will hear much more in her voice. We will also see that these ideas about a good or bad voice are in fact strongly related to ideas about gender. In fact, from her earliest recordings on, her voice is not always thin and high. Mostly, her voice is in the pitch range of speech. Sometimes, we can hear her sing with a rather raw, rauceous voice.
Humans have a large potential of possible pitches for their speaking voice.
But due to different mean sizes of their vocal folds, vocal pitch is for women in general higher than for men. In conjunction with this is the tendency of Western career women to lower their voice, as research showed. However, by lowering their voices, these career women reinforce the stereotype that power and a low voice go together. A similar stereotype can also be found in rock music. Women with low, raw, raucous voices are perceived as strong, sexy, wild and intense.