Know why you are after that baritone voice!

The attraction lies in the voice, not the face. People prefer those who have a similar accent and voices that sound like their own, say researchers.

Men with deeper voices and women with slightly higher voices were thought to sound more attractive, because they suggest a bigger or a smaller body.

"There is more complex mechanism at play," said Molly Babel from University of British Columbia. "The voice is an amazingly flexible tool that we use to construct our identity," he added.

The breathy tone, caused by younger and thinner vocal cords, implied youthfulness and health.

A creaky voice, suggesting a person has a cold, is tired or smokes, was seen as unattractive.

But the new study, published by a linguistics expert in Canada, suggests there is a more complex mechanism at play.

The participants in the study preferred men who spoke with a shorter average word length and deeper voices.

The scientists found that what is attractive to people is how much they sound like a typical male or a typical female from their own community.

"We seem to like people who sound like we sound, we like people who fit within what we know," Babel added.