Average range of frequencies for men, women, and children
The average man’s speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman’s speech range is about 165 Hz to 255 Hz, and a child’s voice typically ranges from 250 Hz to 300 Hz and higher.
Of course, each of us has a wider range of sounds that our vocal cords can produce, and if we choose to sing, that range can extend up to four octaves. To help you visualize that, a standard piano keyboard has 88 black and white keys, and covers a frequency range from 27.5 Hz to 4186 Hz, over seven musical octaves (“middle C” is at 261 Hz). One octave represents 12 tones, white and black keys included.
We hear the frequency of speech or singing as the pitch, and a doubling of the fundamental frequency represents an octave. If you were singing a note at 100 Hz and then sang it at 200 Hz, you’d hear it as “twice as high.” If you sang a note at 180 Hz and then tried for a really low note, at 90 Hz, the latter would be an octave deeper.
But what’s surprising in all this is that the entire range of men’s and women’s voices remains between about 65 Hz for a male with a very deep bass voice to the highest note of a female coloratura soprano, just above 1,000 Hz, at 1,280 Hz. (A female high-pitched scream can go quite a bit higher, to around 3,000 Hz.)
Source: Audio Oddities: Frequency Ranges of Male, Female and Children's Voices
Chart showing the frequency charts for males, females, and children
According to these charts, the loudest frequencies for men are from about 125-750 Hz.
For women, it's about 180-1,800 Hz.
Women have a small peak around 4,000 Hz for normal speaking voices.
