It's an interesting dynamic that more and more people are finding mates (or at least dates) online. Before they even see each other in the flesh, they talk on the phone. Sure, they're spending money to keep their tushies lifted, but what if their voice falls flat? For that all-important first impression, should you consider a "voice lift?"

Sexy voice equals more sex

According to David Puts (very hard to type that name without putting a "Z" on the end), anthropologist at Michigan State University, "Voice...colors every human interaction we have."

And it may make the difference in your "hotness" rating.

Puts fielded a study which revealed men with deeper voices had more luck with the ladies.

But for women it's a little different. Sure you might think Kathleen Turner's deep voice is sexy, but it's not deep that gets them. It's breathy.

"Breathiness comes from air whistling through a gap at the back of the vocal cords, says Harvard psychologist David Feinberg, "The gap is larger in women, giving them a breathier voice. Men might find a super-breathy voice sexy because it accentuates this naturally female trait."

"Men tend to agree strongly about which voices are attractive. But, men have trouble pinpointing exactly what makes them swoon," said psychologist Susan Hughes of Albright College.

Hughes' studies focused on "formant dispersion" which refers to whether our usual frequencies are spaced closely together (a shrill or monotone voice) or far apart (an NPR host). The broader the range, the "fuller" the voices.

But how do fullness, breathiness and pitch combine to deliver a sexy female voice?

"There's a mysterious vocal quality that men seem to recognize by ear. What's even stranger is that both men and women with sexy voices also tend to be more symmetrical and have traditionally sexy body types: the men in my studies tended to have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and the women tended to have hourglass-shaped figures." said Hughes.

"In men, these differences could be chalked up to testosterone. During puberty, testosterone helps boys build broad shoulders and big muscles. It also helps lower their voice. Sex hormones may also account for a woman's sexy voice and curvy figure," she added.

Hughes also found that people with attractive voices tended to have more sex partners over their lifetimes.

"They're chosen as affair partners more often, and they'll lose their virginity at an earlier age." said Hughes.

Deeper voice equals bigger paycheck?

A study in the UK suggests career-driven women are lowering their voices to get ahead in the workplace and gain acceptance in a society that is still male-dominated.

Researchers claim ambitious women are trying to adopt husky tones to compete with their deep-voiced male counterparts. In fact, a comparison of women's voices between 1945 and 1993 revealed they deepened significantly in the second half of the century. During that time, the average pitch of women aged 18 to 25 lowered by 23 hertz - equivalent to a semi-tone drop. Jonnie Robinson, a curator at the British Library who specializes in dialects concurs, saying "Women's voices do seem to have lowered over the last 50 years. A deeper voice might be associated more with power."

Anne Karpf, author of "The Human Voice," claims singing coaches and audio archivists have noted the deepening trend as high-powered female politicians and television correspondents are being encouraged to lower their pitch.

However, experts have also linked the change to women's growing curves. Francis Newton, a voice trainer in Yorkshire in England says
"One reason women's voices have become lower is changes to their vocal cords. "Now (that) women are becoming larger the cords are longer, which means frequency or pitch is lower."

Becoming Deep Throaty

"Jessica" had a career at a prestigious interior design company. At 45, she was moving into a more senior position within the company, and had to conduct more critical business over the phone. The problem was, she sounded like her 6-year-old daughter. Jessica thought her vocal quality was hereditary, but as she progressed in the firm, she realized she had to do something about her voice.

Jessica sought out Dr Thomas Murry, Clinical Director of the Voice and Swallowing Center at Columbia University, to help her modify her voice. Murry says changing the voice is just like changing a golf swing - you simply need to learn how to change the physical pattern. Vocal chords are muscles and require good coordination, along with a good awareness of their use and function. Murry says patients generally need weekly sessions costing $150-$250 per session for only 4-6 weeks to see a change.

Murry has treated hundreds of patients - including rap singers, actors and teachers - with non-surgical methods of modifying muscle behavior. Of course change doesn't occur overnight, but with only a few weeks of practice, Jessica was able to sound more her age (the funny thing is, I'll bet the last thing she wanted was to LOOK her age - but that's a different story).

Thirty-year-old "Bruce" really needed to put some vocal hair on his chest. Although he was happily married and building a family, Bruce had a high-pitched voice, which made him sound a bit light in his loafers, if you know what I mean (and I think you do). What's more, by the end of the day his voice was so fatigued, he could hardly speak. To help Bruce, Murry modeled his own voice on tape. After a few sessions learning to emulate Murry's own mellifluous tones, Bruce was able to lower his voice a few notches and experienced far less fatigue.

Collagen for your voice

It's one thing to sound older and deeper, but what about sounding younger? Murry says he often treats patients after throat or other surgery complaining that their voice sounds "old." Murry says the raspy voice we tend to associate with age may be from poor lung function or weak muscles in the vocal folds - which can respond to exercise. But ancient-sounding voices may also be the result of some neurological problem such as paralysis of one vocal chord so the other has nothing to vibrate against (and we all know how important that is). In this case, Murry refers his patients to surgeons who can inject a substance into the paralyzed chord to bulk it up, or even physically move the chord and reattach it so the two chords can vibrate together.

It's not your fault (well, yes it is)

Dr Murry says the majority of his patients are performers, followed by school teachers, and then others with neurological problems. He says the problem with singers and performers seeking treatment is that there is a stigma associated with seeking vocal treatment, as if they've "done something wrong." There must be something wrong with their technique. Yet when a golfer pulls a muscle, no one attacks his athletic ability - it's just par for the course. Vocal chord strain also occurs naturally. Most of the time.

Murry says the biggest cause of vocal chord injury doesn't come from belting out show tunes or Shakespearian sonnets, but from a far more prosaic (and frankly, annoying) cause: cellphones. We tend to have those things stuck to our ears outside or in crowds and as a result, speak much more loudly than normal. If you want to keep your voice smooth and sexy, I have one bit of advice: text.