Did you ever wonder why Sylvester Stallone and Van Diesel have female followers in huge numbers? One of the reasons can be attributed to their sexy, low and deep voice, apart from their acting skills and physical characteristics.

The effect of this attractive trait has been further strengthened in a study from McCaster University in Ontario.

According to Jillian O'Connor, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior and lead author of the study, women find men with low-pitched voices (which are produced by larger vocal chords) more attractive than their higher-pitched peers.

"This was a problem for us. We wanted to figure out why women would be attracted to a man that they think is not going to be good to them in a relationship," O'Connor told cbc.ca. "Maybe one of the explanations could be [that] it depends on what kind of relationship these women are after."

O'Connor's paper has been published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

O'Connor arrived at the conclusion after asking 87 women to listen to several male voices that had been digitally manipulated to create higher and lower pitches. After listening to the modified voices, the researchers asked the participants to reveal which one of them was more likely to cheat and which one would be better for a long-term relationship or a short-term fling.

She found that women favored men with lower-pitched voices, but claimed that such people are more likely to cheat. As a result, they would prefer having short-term relationships with them.

"They're attracted to these men in a situation where maybe they wouldn't expect fidelity," O'Connor said.

"The sound of someone's voice can affect how we think of them," said O'Connor in an official statement. "Until now, it's been unclear why women would like the voices of men who might cheat. But we found that the more women thought these men would cheat, the more they were attracted to them for a brief relationship when they are less worried about fidelity."

O'Connor said that so far, whether men with low-pitched voices are actually more likely to cheat than their higher-pitched counterparts, hasn't been proved yet.

"Men with lower-pitched voices have higher levels of testosterone and men who have higher levels of testosterone may be more likely to cheat when they're in a relationship. They're generally less committed," O'Connor said.

"It's kind of like a rule of thumb; more often than not it might be right, but it's not going to be 100 per cent accurate."

"From an evolutionary perspective, these perceptions of future sexual infidelity may be adaptive," David Feinberg, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour said in the official statement.

"The consequences of infidelity are very high, whether it is emotional or financial, and this research suggests that humans have evolved as a protection mechanism to avoid long-term partners who may cheat."