Psychiatrist Michael Hunter and fellow researchers at the University of Sheffield in England, back in 2005, monitored the brain activity of 12 men as they listened to voice recordings and found that they process male voices differently from those of females. Women's voices stimulate an area of the brain for processing complex sounds, like music. Male voices activate the "mind's eye," a brain region used for conjuring imagery.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ One reason, Hunter suggested, was that women generally have shorter vocal cords and a smaller larynx, giving them higher-pitched voices. Women's voices may also have more "natural melody," he added. Qualities like pitch and volume vary more during speech. "There's more prosody in female speech."⁠ Newspaper articles about Hunter's research said that men find the female voice more difficult to hear and understand. But Hunter thought the opposite was true. ⁠ ⁠ Because the brain is deciphering the modulation in women's voices, a female voice might be able ...