This is a fascinating article historically, but I find it hard to believe it has much relevance to how women speak or are perceived today.<p>I've done a lot of voice coaching, and a <i>lot</i> of people -- men and women -- don't speak at the pitch that is healthiest and most relaxed for their vocal apparatus. Some are higher, some are lower.<p>Because pitch is often very cultural <i>and</i> emotional. People's pitch varies when they speak different languages, or even dialects/accents. And <i>everyone's</i> pitch increases when they're more emotional, and decreases when they're more relaxed -- a deeper, more relaxed voice <i>relative to your normal pitch</i> conveys confidence and control in both men <i>and</i> women. Actors learn to change their pitch (and breathing, volume, resonance, etc.) to whatever is called for in the part.<p>I appreciate that early telephones may have clipped consonants for women, being designed for men's voices -- but if anything that's the <i>opposite</i> of "shrill". In any case, audio quality today is spectacular so it's certainly no longer the case.<p>So while pitch is a fascinating subject, I don't really find myself buying into the notion that female speech patterns are a result of pressure from male norms, whether technological or otherwise.