I like the sound of that!

All those in the inner circle of Pankti Chheda, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur and founder of Moving Meals, know that she's more of "voice-note kind of person" than a compulsive texter. This preference extends to online dating too. And for good reason, she says. "There are a lot of fake profiles and catphishing that go on [on dating apps]. So, I prefer to hear someone speak. Voice helps you visualise a person better than text would, and gives you a sense of whether they are legit."

Ever since she started using the voice feature on dating, friend-finding and networking app Bumble, Chheda has had a fairly pleasant experience. "I matched with some of the most interesting people, including a scientist who researches underwater acoustics and works with whale calls. She loved my voice, and as somebody who works with sounds, she suggested doing a spectral analysis [of my voice]." Voice researchers use the spectrogram as a tool for analysing vocal output, along with identifying the strength and frequencies of formants or resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. "The results showed that when I say anything that has an ‘s', I display a unique, signature sound that most people don't. It made me suddenly feel very sexy," she laughs.

Jitesh Bisht, founder of domestic dating app HiHi, says, "Once you go global, it works well, because in my culture, voice features are more readily accepted"

Recently, Hinge, a dating app that according to its official website emphasises on long-term connections between users, released a new voice prompt feature which allows people to answer prompts on your profile with a 30-second audio recording. Hinge has also added voice notes to its in-app messaging feature so that users can send an audio message while chatting with their matches. A survey done by the app revealed that 64 per cent of Hinge users said that a potential match's voice was an important factor in determining if there was potential in the match. According to a study conducted by the company, "half of our users have become less attracted to a match after hearing the sound of their voice".

This stems from the fact that we no longer want to waste time on somebody who is not authentic, thinks Upasana Kochhar, a Clubhouse influencer and former strategy director at Wundermanthompson, a global marketing communications agency. "When it comes to pictures and text, both can be edited and glorified, and are hence, misleading. Your voice is a pipeline to your heart; it expresses your entire personality. It also has an immediacy and an urgency that thrusts you into an instant back-and-forth. You don't have the time to think through your responses like you would on text." It also eliminates the possibility of reading the message in a wrong tone. "Let's say, I send a text to my husband that says, ‘When are you coming home?' There is a possibility of him seeing it as nagging. If I vocalise the sentence, it will be interpreted differently," she says. Chheda says the interpretation hinges on not just what you're saying, but how you're saying it. "So, your tone, pitch, speed come into play."

Upasana Kochhar, Clubhouse influencer

Incidentally, Bumble had a voice call and video chat feature in place well before the pandemic. "We knew that we were well-positioned to pivot to virtual dating during the lockdown," shares Samarpita Samaddar, its India Communications Director. "We've seen this scenario so many times, wherein you matched with someone, you've been messaging back and forth, and you think there could be a connection, but even if your potential date has the smoothest moves, it can be difficult to read between the lines while texting and decide whether to pursue something more substantial. Voice plays a part in making that choice." Since the lockdown last year, the company has observed a 38 per cent rise in the use of voice chats and video calls, with people spending roughly 20 minutes on it on an average. "People are talking for longer, having better quality chats than they used to."

While dating apps that have a global presence have been quick to monetise the trend, domestic players are taking it slow. "[Adding a voice feature] is an expensive affair. Let's say you have 5,000 users per month, it won't make financial sense to invest in a technology such as this," believes Jitesh Bisht, who launched dating app HiHi, in June 2020. The homegrown company currently has a video calling feature. According to Bisht, young companies such as his would prefer to invest in advanced algorithms which can scan and ensure authenticity of all profiles and offer higher visibility. HiHi has a detailed registration funnel for users. "What we've also noticed is that many users don't want to dive straight into voice notes or calls. They'd rather start out with texting, send gifs and memes and then transition to voice calls." There's also the added factor that many of us don't like hearing a recording of our own voice.

If you thought finding a match on dating apps was difficult, voicephishing seems to have made it a tad harder. The term refers to the fear that a date may show up with a very different voice than what was projected online. Bisht says, for dating companies, identifying voicefishing via technology is almost impossible at this point. "I think that's where using a voice feature on the app has its advantage. Many users don't want to share their primary contact number. So if they speak on the app and don't ‘vibe', or find something off, it's usually better to disconnect at that very stage than take it ahead."