Why are males' pitch lower than females? Hi :) I'm not sure this is the right place to ask this question, but I'll try anyway:
Here are two well-known facts, and I don't understand how they work together:

Males usually have deeper voices than females because they have longer vocal folds.

Short and relaxed vocal folds produce a deep voice, long and tense vocal folds produce a high-pitched voice.


So... given that males have longer vocal folds, isn't that supposed to mean that they produced high-pitched voices? What did I get wrong?
Thanks
Males usually have deeper voices than females because they have longer vocal folds.

Yes

Short and relaxed vocal folds produce a deep voice, long and tense vocal folds produce a high-pitched voice.

Yes on &quot;relaxed&quot;, no on &quot;short&quot;.
Treating the vocal cords as strings: The resonance frequency is a function of mass (or density), tension and length.
Higher mass -&gt; lower pitch
Higher tension -&gt; higher pitch
Higher length -&gt; lower pitch

Male vocal cords are longer and heavier.