政客升迁时声音也随之改变
You may have noticed that the voices of politicians seem to change as they rise up the ranks.
你可能会注意到，政客升往高职时，他们的声音也随之改变。
Now scientists claim that being in a position of power can fundamentally change the way you speak and other people can pick up on these vocal cues.
They say that the cues - such as talking more loudly with less variation in pitch - tell people who is really in charge, regardless of what an individual is saying.
'Our findings suggest that whether it's parents attempting to assert authority over unruly children, haggling between a car salesman and customer, or negotiations between heads of states, the sound of the voices involved may profoundly determine the outcome of those interactions,' psychological scientist Sei Jin Ko of San Diego State University said.
Dr Ko and her team had long been interested in non-language-related properties of speech, but it was former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that inspired them to investigate the relationship between acoustic cues and power.
'It was quite well known that Thatcher had gone through extensive voice coaching to exude a more authoritative, powerful persona,' she explained.
'We wanted to explore how something so fundamental as power might elicit changes in the way a voice sounds, and how these situational vocal changes impact the way listeners perceive and behave toward the speakers.'