Lauren Bacall seductively teaching Humphrey Bogart how to whistle in the 1944 film “To Have and Have Not” is also pretty much a masterclass in sexy voice affectation. (The film’s director believed Bacall originally sounded “reedy” so, during production, she read aloud to herself, training to make her voice “lower, more masculine, sexier.”)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sexy-voice-science-men-and-women_l_5d1bba71e4b07f6ca5857392
Great article and makes a lot of sense. BTW, I love Bacall's voice in Dark Passage; my fav Bogie & Bacall of all time.
But it's true, we do change tone and voice to make an impact. I do it at work when on the phone. And I do it when I actually makes video or audio of reading my work. We all want to use a voice that hooks and engages our audience, be it a prospective lover, a room of conference delegates, or at a poetry slam. What hooks me, and I find sexy, is measured and low, dripping with intent, appropriate pauses that leave me lingering for the next word.