Some time ago, the Telegraph ran a piece entitled "Choirboys struggle to hit the high notes". It was not good quality journalism, if by that you mean accurate reporting of scientific research without a background sensationalist line. There was some element of truth in the Telegraph piece, as new research I shall be publishing over the next year or two will confirm. However, the article was full of factual errors and unsupported speculation. Good old vocal "chords" came up! But this was nothing compared to the Daily Mail's recent fantasy on early puberty. True to the Mail's "things were better in the old days" template, the article asked why, if "they're taller, better fed and have fewer fillings, today's children are less healthy than 50 years ago?". (Tuesday 7th June, pp 32 - 33). I just loved the "statistic". Apparently the average boy in 1961 was 4' 4" tall and weighed 5 stones and 10 pounds. Now, the average boy is apparently 4' 7" tall and weighs 6 stone 4 pounds (well, we can't expect "European" measurements from the Mail!). How old are these "average boys"? From which social class? Which ethnicity? Er, doesn't say. But, apparently they all hit puberty at 14 years 6 months fifty years ago. Now, they all hit puberty at 13 years and 6 months.
Well, maybe that's a bit of harmless license. We all know that tabloid journalists are statistically illiterate. However, what could cause a lot of harm is the confident assertion that "Puberty is defined as starting when a boy's voice breaks." This is just plain wrong and reinforces a public misconception that I've tried to correct in most of the books and articles I've written in the last five years. Where did the journalist get this gem from? Well, I did what Ben Goldacre of the Guardian's "Bad Science" fame would do and contacted the academic who had been interviewed for the article. He very kindly sent me the relevant section from his new book. Did this say "puberty is defined as starting when a boy's voice breaks?" No, not at all. In fact, the research "quoted" was almost entirely about menarche in girls. No surprise there. I'm constantly having to point out (1) that boys are not girls, (2) far more research has been done on menarche in girls than puberty in boys and (3) the findings for girls do not apply to boys. So what is the status of this definition of puberty? Well, you could say that the Daily Mail just made it up, but to be more charitable, it's probably just the journalist being one of the general, misinformed public who have this erroneous belief about puberty and voice break in boys.
So when does puberty start? Well, if you really want to know, it's when the testicular volume reaches 3 Ml! If you want to know the latest on how this affects boys' voices, be at this year's Wulstan Atkins Memorial Lecture at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester. A version of this talk will be available on this website some time after the event, but far better to be at the real thing!
