Donald Trump (second from right) speaks as Jeb Bush (left) Marco Rubio (second from left) and Ben Carson (right) look on during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, Oct. 28, 2015.

Sometimes, it is not what you say. It is how you say it.

That is certainly true for politicians and leaders. Scientists have been studying how they speak. It turns out that many leaders sound the same. They use the same tricks.

Scientists studied the speeches of Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. These four have all been running to become the next president. They have very different ideas. Even so, they speak in the same way. Also, they all change how they speak when they are talking to different kinds of people.

Sound Advice

Leaders need to be good speakers. They speak to everyone from schoolchildren to very old people. Good speakers can make almost anything sound interesting. Leaders, who have to talk people into following them, need to be able to sound good.

How do leaders do this? To answer, scientists studied both pitch and volume. A high pitch sounds like a flute or whistle. A low pitch sounds like a drum.

The scientists studied how leaders sounded in three different settings. They studied speeches that leaders made to voters. They also looked at how leaders spoke to each other. Third, they listened to leaders speaking on talk shows.

Something In Common

The study found that the four leaders, Clinton, Fiorina, Sanders and Trump, all changed their voices in the same ways.

When speaking to large crowds, they used both low and high voice pitches. This made them sound likable. They also used both loud and quiet voices.

Large crowds have many different kinds of people. Leaders change their voices to sound likable to everyone.

Sometimes They Speak In A Normal Tone

The leaders used lower pitches when speaking with other leaders. Lower pitches show power and strength. Lastly, they did not change their voices on talk shows. They spoke normally.

The study shows that many leaders sound like each other. They sound different, though, depending on whom they are talking to.

Next, scientists will look at leaders in other countries. They want to see if leaders in other countries use their voices like those in the United States.

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