If you’ve ever listened to a recording of your voice and thought to yourself: “Do I really sound like that?!” you’re not the only one!
People hear themselves talk all the time, so why do they think that recordings of their voices sound so strange?
Photo via KCRW
According to Live Science, the simple answer is: what you hear when you speak is not the same as what others perceive, said Dr. Yale Cohen, director of the Hearing Sciences Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
“The voice that you hear on a tape recorded is actually how your voice sounds,” said Cohen.
And if you’re wondering why you sound different from the recordings of your voice… three little bones called ossicles, located in the middle ear, are responsible for the discrepancy between what you think you sound like and how others hear you.
The ossicles are key to one way people process noise: the eardrum vibrates against these bones, which transmit the vibration to the cochlea.
The cochlea then translates that vibrational energy from the outside world into electrical energy, which is how your brain cells communicate with each other.
Your own voice will always sound loud to you (because of how close your mouth is to your ears), so the ossicles vibrate more when you talk. This ends up muddling the sound, causing you to incorrectly perceive your voice as having a lower pitch.
For this reason, you may find that a recording of your voice sounds much higher to you than what you’re used to hearing when you speak.
That’s why some people hate to listen to their own voice because ultimately, people think they know what their own voices are supposed to sound like, said Dr. Cohen.
Photo via Speeli
While it may be jarring for most people to hear the way their voice sounds on a recording, if you’re someone who has to hear your recorded voice often like a musician or a radio personality, Cohen said you might eventually become habituated to the pitch differences.
The recording will sound different, but the reaction might not be as strong.
But hey, don’t worry too much about it. No one’s complained… yet!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
