Study finds mothers’ voices can reduce daughters’ stress

Researchers studied 68 girls aged 7 to 12 at a lab in Madison, Wisconsin.

The girls first told a story aloud and solved a difficult subtraction problem while researchers watched and evaluated them.

Afterward, some girls spoke with their mothers in person or by phone, while others texted or had no contact.

The girls who heard their mothers’ voices had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those who texted or had no contact.

The study suggests that hearing a familiar voice may be more soothing than texting in this situation.

The episode also follows Jules Rodriguez, who says losing his voice made him feel as if he were fading.

It asks whether a realistic digital voice clone could affect a difficult medical decision he and his family faced; the provided account does not say what happened next.