Average male voice pitch in Hz

Male voice frequency range (and female)

These figures are the average speaking pitch (fundamental frequency) of 135 men and 244 women aged 18 to 60, measured while they read and spoke (Leung, Oates, Papp and Chan, 2022): men 115 Hz with a standard deviation of 21 Hz, women 199 Hz with a standard deviation of 28 Hz. Other studies find similar values within about 10 Hz.

How deep is a man's voice at each pitch?

And a woman's?

Percentiles assume speaking pitch is spread like a log-normal curve with the study's mean and standard deviation. Real populations vary by language, age and region, so treat them as a guide, not a ranking.

What counts as a deep voice?

For a man, under about 100 Hz is deep: lower than roughly three in four men. Under about 90 Hz is very deep. Bass singers often speak around 85 to 95 Hz. For a woman, under about 170 Hz is deep.

Why your number moves around

• Time of day: most voices are lowest in the morning and rise a little as the day goes on.
• Loudness: speaking up raises pitch. Measure at your normal volume.
• Mood and nerves: stress tightens the throat and lifts the voice.
• Age: many studies find men's speaking pitch rises a little in later life, and women's falls after menopause.
• Language: average pitch differs between languages and regions by several hertz.

Hz and musical notes

Every doubling of frequency is an octave. 110 Hz is A2, the A two octaves below middle C; 131 Hz is C3; 220 Hz is A3. A semitone is about a 6% change, so one semitone below 115 Hz is about 108.5 Hz.

Wondering whether you're a bass, baritone or tenor? That's a singing question, about your whole range rather than where you speak, so it needs a range test rather than this one.

Want your own number? The voice depth test measures your median speaking pitch while you read and places it on these curves.