98% Of Female Second Life Avatars To Be Revealed As Real Life Men By June

Ok. We made that figure up. It could be more and we possibly will find out in June. Those Second Life ladies with real life beards better get themselves some voice synthesizers because SL creators are going to introduce voice chat then. Reuters has the scoop:

The new capabilities, provided by virtual world communications firm Vivox, are intended to make it as easy as possible for users to determine who is talking, and where. Using 3D audio technology from DiamondWare, sound will come from the right or left stereo channel depending on where the speaker is located, and voices beyond a certain distance will not be audible. Indicators and animations will also reflect when someone is talking, and how loudly.

The system will also help those in need:

Miller said the company would eventually offer voice masking, so that users can choose what they sound like. Vivox, which has already launched several virtual phone booths within Second Life that can call real-world numbers, has promoted the concept of “voice fonts” that let users choose from a variety of vocal tones.

But seriously, could audio-visual telephony in SL have a huge impact on its success?

Reuters/Second Life » Linden calling: Second Life voice to launch by June