Are women harder to listen to than men?

[Cheery Lunatic]

I do like symphonies more than triangles, therefore I prefer listening to a women. Of course!

This made me chuckle, haha.

OT: I think it has to do more with the fact that women (including me) talk pretty damn fast in comparison to guys. Or at least, in my experience anyway.

 

[manythings]

I find groups of women talking to be a painful experience. The sound of 3 or more women talking that starts boring into my head and making it impossible to think. It has a lot to do with women and the whole multi-tasking thing, allowing women to talk at cross-purposes at the same time, and the fact that women, in groups, start talking louder, faster and in higher pitches to avoid being ignored. A sonic arms race if you will.

Fucking irritating to say the least.

On the complex coding thing I would say men are more used to the idea of knowing what another man is saying but looking to keep an eye out for the hidden barbs in a woman's speech, christ knows I'm not going to ignore things when talking to a woman.

I would prefer more information on the women though. Were they strangers? were they simply voice recordings? Videos? Attractive? Average? Uggos? A mixture? Was it only one woman? What kind of guys were they or did they even screen them? Not enough information to call anything concrete on this.

 

[Disaster Button]

I personally find myself able to talk for hours with woman, but with out a subject or something to do when talking with men the conversation ends quickly.

I also have alot of female friends.

I am a dude.

This somes up my answer nicely.

I'd like to add that some men are harder to listen to as their voices can be a lot more empty and lacking any emphasis or tone.

 

[Danny Ocean]

It seems to me, when listening in a crowd, it's much easier to pick out female voices than male ones. I assume it's to do with higher frequencies perhaps being easier to hear?

 

[The Heik]

SO...
Supposedly when a mans brain hears a womans voice, the areas of his brain that light up with activity are the same ones he uses to decode complex sounds, like a symphony or a series of clunks in his car. Conversely, when a man hears another mans voice, the parts of his brain that light up are the parts that identify simple shapes, triangle, square, circle etc.

Does this mean women are literally harder to listen to?

Discuss.

Depends on the situation.

Generally speaking though, it is easier for people of the same gender to speak with one another, as they will generally discuss things that both understand more often. Imagine that you're talking to someone about something you both know fluently. Because you both have a large amount of knowledge on the subject, your brain doesn't have to work as hard because it can just check the mental archives. Conversely, if someone is talking about something that you have no experience in, your brain has to go into overdrive to understand it, hence making the conversation more complex to the brain.

 

[Trifixion]

Warning: Semi-humorous, probably easily-considered-sexist statements contained below...read at your own risk and take with a large grain of salt.

Spoiler

This sort of ties into my fundamental theory of the difference between men and women. Goes something like this:

Men are digital. Women are analog.

A digital audio signal is a string of "0's" and "1's." There is no in between. It's either "on" or it's "off." The receiver of the signal does not need to interpret the signal.

An analog audio signal's data can at any given point be "on"...or it can be "off"...or it can be anywhere in between...it is the job of the receiver to interpret how that information is to be processed.

This is why men and women have so much trouble communicating. Men say things to women, and the women - instead of taking the statements or questions at face value - try to figure out "what is he REALLY saying," thinking there's some deeper meaning behind it, when in fact there isn't. Women give men too much credit in this regard. When a woman has to ask the question "What is he THINKING, saying that?" they should immediately answer themselves "He isn't."

Example: A man says to a woman "Hey, is it okay if I go out drinking with my buddies?"

The woman should have heard: "Hey, is it okay if I go out drinking with my buddies?"

The woman actually hears: "Hey, I don't think you're interesting enough to occupy my attention, so I'm going to go out, get drunk, and flirt with other women who are better looking and thinner than you."

Likewise, women say things to men and the men interpret what they say at face value without trying to interpret what she's really saying.

Example: A man says to a women "Hey, is it okay if I go out drinking with my buddies?" (as above) and the woman will reply, "Sure, you can go out drinking with your friends."

The man actually hears: "It's okay to go out drinking with my friends."

The man should have heard: "Well, I could go out drinking with my friends, but it would be far better if I stayed here and lavished attention on this wonderful woman."

And don't get me started on how to answer the question "Does this dress make me look fat?"

There is no correct answer.

Then there's my alternate theory of the difference between men and women, which goes as follows:

In literature, weaponry...swords, rifles, and the like...are traditionally regarded as phallic images.

Likewise, flowers - most specifically members of genus Rosa within the family Rosaceae - are considered to be vaginal images.

So according to literature, the difference between men and women is the difference between...Guns 'N' Roses.

Therefore, it's all Axl's fault, so let's blame him.

 

[Me55enger]

Hm?... What?

Sorry, I wasn't listening

 

[FaithorFire]

The female brain is naturally wired to think less linearly than a male brain. Female's need segmented modes of thought to better manage domestic settings (children and cleaning). Males need linear modes of thought to focus on productive tasks (hunting). Of course I'm talking about how the human brain evolved over thousands of years in small tribal communities.
I would bet the different parts of the brain lighting up is a left over biological trait to make communication easier. Female's aren't "harder" to listen to, they just need to be listened to differently. (I have a wonderful fiance and I've learned this very intimately)
Any seemingly bizarre biological of social phenomenon can always be traced logically to its natural roots.

p.s. anyone who considers the facts of evolution and biology "sexist", is a moron, whether male OR female

 

[FaithorFire]

Actually there is evidence that female voices being easier to pick out than male voices comes from both genders learning to respond to female pitched voices to ensure females, and therefore young members of the species, were better protected. That response to female voices is also seen among a lot of primates and other warm-blooded animals.

 

[FaithorFire]

It seems to me, when listening in a crowd, it's much easier to pick out female voices than male ones. I assume it's to do with higher frequencies perhaps being easier to hear?

Actually there is evidence that female voices being easier to pick out than male voices comes from both genders learning to respond to female pitched voices to ensure females, and therefore young members of the species, were better protected. That response to female voices is also seen among a lot of primates and other warm-blooded animals.
So its not from higher pitches specifically, but from what higher pitches meant to our ancestors

 

[FaithorFire]

It seems to me, when listening in a crowd, it's much easier to pick out female voices than male ones. I assume it's to do with higher frequencies perhaps being easier to hear?

Actually there is evidence that female voices being easier to pick out than male voices comes from both genders learning to respond to female pitched voices to ensure females, and therefore young members of the species, were better protected. That response to female voices is also seen among a lot of primates and other warm-blooded animals.
So its not from higher pitches specifically, but from what higher pitches meant to our ancestors

 

[FaithorFire]

It seems to me, when listening in a crowd, it's much easier to pick out female voices than male ones. I assume it's to do with higher frequencies perhaps being easier to hear?

Actually there is evidence that female voices being easier to pick out than male voices comes from both genders learning to respond to female pitched voices to ensure females, and therefore young members of the species, were better protected. That response to female voices is also seen among a lot of primates and other warm-blooded animals.
So its not from higher pitches specifically, but from what higher pitches meant to our ancestors

 

[Doc Cannon]

Depends on the subject. I could talk for hours about explosions and chainguns with a guy, but with a girl I could talk for hours about my life, her life 'n other shit.

 

[Danny Ocean]

It seems to me, when listening in a crowd, it's much easier to pick out female voices than male ones. I assume it's to do with higher frequencies perhaps being easier to hear?

Actually there is evidence that female voices being easier to pick out than male voices comes from both genders learning to respond to female pitched voices to ensure females, and therefore young members of the species, were better protected. That response to female voices is also seen among a lot of primates and other warm-blooded animals.
So its not from higher pitches specifically, but from what higher pitches meant to our ancestors

Holy crap quintuple post!

Thanks for that though. Interesting.

 

[shadoworc01]

In general, I find both very incomprehensible, it's just for different reasons. Maybe it's just because I'm in High School, but I find that most women gable on about some new chick flic, or gossip about people I don't know or care about, or just something straight up stupid.
example: a Spanish teacher has gone on leave for the rest of the year, and the new teacher is much harder. Anonymous Girl: "Dammit! Now we're actually gonna have to learn Spanish!"

On the other side, men usually discuss the team balance in some sport, or the latest rap or some other crap I don't care about. However, I do find more intelligent girls than intelligent boys, so maybe that says something.

 

[The_Graff]

if your brain info is right then yes.

also more anecdotal evidence suggests that men listening to women find it very hard as women rarely seem to want to talk about much that is interesting (obvious statement of our time #42).

 

[ma55ter_fett]

I tend to have longer conversations with women then I do with men, but with men I can of course talk about manly things.

 

[Pingieking]

Generally speaking, I find that men just like to converse with the minimal amount of words possible. Perhaps that's why the part of the brain that deals with simple shapes are used.