This paper reports a study which investigated 2-month-old infants' auditory discrimination of tone quality in the male voice, extending a previous study which found that voice quality changes (soft versus harsh) in a female voice were discriminable by infants at this age. Subjects were 20 infants, tested at 8 and 9 weeks of age. Each infant was presented with a visual stimulus (a 4 x 4 black and white checkerboard), and an auditory stimulus (stanzas of a poem read by a male in a soft tone or a harsh tone). In one condition (E), visual fixation of the visual stimulus was accompanied by the soft voice tape recording; in another condition (F), the visual stimulus was accompanied by the harsh voice recording. Experimental subjects received conditions E and F in either an EFEF design or a counterbalancing FEFE deisgn. Two control groups received either EEEE or FFFF designs. The effect of auditory stimulus changes on recovery of visual fixation was determined by comparing experimental and control fixation patterns. Reliable increases in visual fixation did occur with changes in auditory stimuli involving male voice tone quality. A contrast is noted between this finding and the result of an earlier study which indicated that fathers spend little time vocalizing to their infants. (Author/GO)