Raw results

Respondents gave their highest and lowest singable pitches, and their highest and lowest easily singable pitches; here labelled "Low," "MidLow," "MidHigh," and "High."

Numbers on the graph axes are semitones, with middle C (C₄) being 24. Octaves are separated by 12 semitones like this:

• C₂ = 0

• C₃ = 12

• C₄ = 24

• C₅ = 36

• C₆ = 48

• C₇ = 60

Grid lines mark out 3-semitone intervals, corresponding to pitches C, E♭, G♭ & A.

I spread out the individual respondents along the horizontal axis by their "average pitch," which is just the average of the four pitches they gave. I also added some random jitter to prevent points from overlapping (standard deviation of half a semitone).

Summary statistics

I'll give the average ± standard deviation of the responses in semitones, as used in the graphs. Overall statistics have been balanced for biological sex.

• Highest pitch

  • Overall: 45 ±7 (A₅)

    • Male: 42 ±8 (G♭₅)

    • Female: 48 ±5 (C₆)

• Highest easy pitch

  • Overall: 39 ±8 (E♭₅)

    • Male: 36 ±9 (C₅)

    • Female: 42 ±6 (G♭₅)

• Lowest easy pitch

  • Overall: 12 ±6 (C₃)

    • Male: 7 ±9 (G₂)

    • Female: 17 ±6 (F₃)

• Lowest pitch

  • Overall: 9 ±6 (A₂)

    • Male: 4 ±3 (E₂)

    • Female: 14 ±4 (D₃)

Vocal Range

"Full range" is the number of semitones between respondents' Low and High pitches; "Easy range" is the number between MidLow and MidHigh pitches.

You can see the spread of both in next graph. The fitted line just shows that respondents with wide easy ranges also have wide full ranges.

Summary

• Full range

  • Overall: 36 ±8 (3 octaves)

    • Male: 37 ±8 (3.1 octaves)

    • Female: 34 ±7 (2.8 octaves)

• Easy range

  • Overall: 27 ±8 (2.25 octaves)

    • Male: 28 ±9 (2.3 octaves)

    • Female: 25 ±7 (2.1 octaves)