Male or female voice over - do you have a preference?

Sirius, when you say "eBooks", do you mean "audiobooks"? :confused:

I prefer an Austrailian female voice but that's just me.

Watch a few TV commercials and listen to the voices, and then try to imagine which of those your users would most buy from.

As long as it is in easy to understand modern english. I don't like big words that I have to try to understand what it means versus what was just said to me.

Overall, I would prefer a male voice because it sounds more authoratative..Female voice for all marketing purposes though.

I prefer to hear the voice of the author. For instance, I love to hear the audio books read by Seth Godin.

It's not only about how pleasant is the voice - the author usually knows best what (s)he intended to say.

I prefer female voice.


Mario

It does not matter if it is a man or female. As long as you can understand what they are saying.

Tal

I agree with Dot and BlogBrowser. It depends on the product and your target audience.

- Russ

I tend to find female voices clearer but the most important thing for me is if I can understand them.

I find some american accents extremely difficult to understand but I am sure the same is true for different nationalities - aim for what the most people wont be annoyed by or have difficulty with.

Does not matter to me as long as it is easy to understand what is being said.

James

I prefer a mid range female voice, as long as she doesn't sound like she's reading. Either that, or I like to hear the author's voice. Example - even though the hired people read Steven King's books better, I like hearing him read them sometimes.

It depends on the product and who created it. If it's created by a male, and you have a female voice over, that would be rather peculiar. There's no congruency there.

Fabian

I've once heard on Discovery (a reliable source that is) that both males and females have a better response (not sure what exactly that was meant to be) to female voices that's why the "help" voice in fighter jets is female... just what I heard.

If if matters scientifically, I found this:

The use of male or female voices in warnings systems : A question of acoustics Edworthy J, Hellier E, Rivers J - Noise Health


excerpt:


Some studies suggest that there are preferences for the voice of one sex over another, and this tends to favour the female voice, or the female listener, or both. For example, Whipple and Mcmanamon (2002) showed that the sex of advertisement presenters had a significant effect on the perception of gender-imaged products, but more specifically that female voices enhanced female-specific products, whereas the sex of the speaker had no effect for male-specific products. The sex of the speaker had no effect for neutral products (products directed at neither sex specifically). An earwitness testimony study (Wilding and Cook, 2000) showed that while males showed no differentiable ability to recognise male over female voices, females showed an enhanced ability to recognise female voices, as well as being more accurate overall. Thus when a preference is expressed, it seems to be for the female voice, and female listeners appear more attuned to speaker characteristics than do males.

Wow, thanks for all the responses, guys (and girls)! Seems like there're a number of differing opinions here, but a majority seem to favour a female voice over.

~ Sirius

No preference really, i guess if i could chose ; a female voice.

If it is someting for business like an internet marketing ebook then I would use a man.
For everything else it really depends on your target if it is women stuff use a female voice.
Overall though as long as it is a clean, clear, voice it really shouldnt matter.