Why does the sound of our own voice recorded on tape annoy us? Why does it seem squeaky, low and strange? As a matter of fact, how do other people hear us? We have collected answers to these puzzling questions in a new article.
You must have often faced with the fact that your own recorded voice sounds alien, high-pitched, shrill, rude and not so melodious as we hear it in our head.
The good news is that you are not alone. All of us find the sound of our recorded voice annoying, and there’s nothing we can do. Another question is why this happens and how we actually hear the rest of the world.
We have tried to look into the matter and prepared an article which will explain to you in plain language what is happening with the sound of your voice when you hear it from outside sources rather than from the inside.
How do we perceive sounds?
Let’s start with a brief introduction to anatomy. Our ear consists of three main parts: the outer, the middle and the inner ear.
The outer ear is located on the exterior of our head, and we can see it. It opens the ear canal, and the eardrum separates the canal from the middle ear.
The middle ear consists of three bones, which are the main conductors of sound. They amplify and transmit sounds to the inner ear.
The inner ear is the last stop on the way to the brain. It includes a cochlea that converts sounds into neurological signals and sends them through the auditory nerve to the brain.
Any sound that we perceive is a series of vibrations. Vibrations pass through the three bones of the middle ear and are transmitted to the ear cochlea.
What do you hear when you talk?
The first thing to understand is that the sound is a series of vibrations. This vibration passes through the bones of the middle ear and reaches the cochlea, after which it reaches the brain as a neurological signal.
There are two different ways in which fluctuations can reach our ears:
By air. This is how we perceive external noises: music, other people’s speech, and our own recorded voice.
Through the bones. This is how we perceive internal noises, such as the vibration of the vocal cords.
It turns out that you can hear your own voice as a mixture of sounds transmitted through the air and through the bones. This cacophony is heard only by you and nobody else.
What happens when you hear your recorded voice?
In this case, you do not get the sounds transmitted through the bones; you get the sounds transmitted by air. A part of the sound is lost, and you receive an unfamiliar sound at the output.
Why are you annoyed at your own voice?
In this case, your brain has played a cruel joke with you. The fact is that the inner voice may sound in your head just as you want it to. You may even feel that your voice is like the voice of Angelina Jolie or Conan O’Brien. The irony is that you are the only person who can hear your voice that way.
In reality, your true voice can be low and squeaky – in general, it is not the way you are used to hearing it within yourself. And this difference bothers you.
We are sorry for the unpleasant truth, but the voice that you hear in the recording is exactly how the rest of the world hears you.
It may sound as a little consolation, but we are all in the same boat. None of us likes the sounding of our own voice on the tape, but there is nothing we can do about it.
