If you’re wondering why you’re not getting your message across to that group of chatty girls in class, then it could be time to change your tone of voice.

According to new research by St Andrews University in Scotland, young girls are intimidated by deep voices before they hit puberty, but grow to love them as they get older.

The study, of more than 300 young girls, found that this fear of deep voices eventually changes to curiosity, and the more “developed” the girl, the more likely she was to have a strong preference for boys who sounded like Walrus of Love Barry White.

Tamsin Saxton, lead researcher, said: “It’s a time when your peers are changing a lot in their appearance, for example, boys’ faces become more masculine, and their voices deepen in pitch, so maybe teens are responding to the changes they see around them.”