Conceptual
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Confounding: When Sex, Age or Body Size Explains a Voice Correlation

Names the first alternative explanation and gives it the strongest possible example. Sex and age move voice pitch enormously — about 5 SD and about 26 Hz across adulthood in women — and they also move blood pressure, body fat and lean mass. Any raw correlation between pitch and those measures is a candidate artefact of the two variables the study itself shows dominate the trait.

Questions this Concept answers

  • Why do sex and age threaten any raw correlation between voice pitch and blood pressure?