Why does our own voice annoy us?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Why is it annoying to hear our own voice recorded on tape? Why does the voice sound squeaky, low and not at all ours? How do other people actually hear us? We have collected the answers to these cryptic questions in a new article.

I am sure that you have already come across the fact that your own voice in the recording seems alien, squeaky, shrill, rough and not at all as melodic as we are used to hearing it in our head.

The good news is that you are not alone. All of us are annoyed by the sound of our own voice on the recording, and nothing can be done about it. Another question is why this is happening and how does the rest of the world actually hear us?

We tried to understand this issue and prepared an article where we will explain to you in simple and understandable language what happens to the sound of your voice when you hear it from external sources, and not inside yourself.

How we perceive sounds

Let's start with a little digression into anatomy. Our ear has three main parts: the outer, middle, and inner ear.

The outer ear is on the outside of our head and we can see it. It opens the ear canal, and the eardrum separates this canal from the middle ear.

The middle ear contains three bones, which are the main conductors of sound. They amplify and transmit sound to the inner ear.

The inner ear is the last stop on the road to the brain. It contains the cochlea, which converts sound into a neurological signal and transmits it to the brain through the auditory nerve.

Any sound we perceive is a series of vibrations. The vibration passes through the three bones of the middle ear and is transmitted to the cochlea.

What do you hear when you speak

First of all, you need to understand that sound is a series of vibrations. This vibration passes through the bones of the middle ear and reaches the cochlea, after which it enters the brain as a neurological signal.

There are two different ways in which vibrations can reach our ear:

1. By air. This is how we perceive external noises: music, third-party speech and the sound of our own voice in the recording.
2. Through the bones. This is how we perceive internal noises, such as the vibration of our vocal cords.

It turns out that you hear your own voice as a mixture of sounds transmitted through the air and through bones. Only you and no one else can hear this cacophony.

What Happens When You Hear Your Voice Recorded

In this case, the sounds transmitted through the bones do not reach you, and you only receive the sound transmitted through the air. That is, some of the sounds are lost, and at the output you get an unfamiliar sound.

Why is your own voice annoying you?

Here your brain has played a cruel joke on you. The fact is that in your head, the inner voice can sound the way you want it. You may even think that your voice is similar to the voice of Andrei Malakhov or Vera Brezhneva. The irony is that you are the only person who can hear your voice this way.

In reality, your true voice may be deeper and squeakier - in general, not at all the way you are used to hearing it inside yourself. And this difference annoys you.

Therefore, I want to immediately apologize for the unpleasant truth, but the voice that you hear in the recording is how the rest of the world hears you.

And if this will comfort you a little, I want to say that we are all sailing in the same boat. None of us like the sound of our own voice on tape, and we can't get away from that.