Why is it that we dont....?

Question

why do we think we sound different when we listen to our own voice when playbacked on video or other forms of recording? even though friends and family say that its no different.

Answer 1

'Friends and family' are usually generalizing..

Before I'd entered a recording studio ( PROPER microphones!) I believed my voice like I heard it on videos..the cameras were pretty good quality so it wasn't grainy or anything, it's just the quality of the microphone.

I hated my voice before hearing it recorded with a professional mic, where I noticed all different levels that did sound more like I heard myself rather than a lowish quality recording which is unable to show and pick up many tones and subtleties of the voice. (usually common microphones record at 8khz/sec as opposed to a more likely 128 or higher)

What is played back is only what is picked up, which might not be your true voice =) Also, in your head there is more expression (for everyone) because english speakers think the words they say out loud in their head as well as saying them.

Hope I helped =)

Ran

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Answer 2

i cringe when i hear myself talking on a tape lol

Answer 3

Voices always sound different when played through a reproduction system.

Answer 4

i dont know its just cringe to hear your own voice! its like people over the phone sound differnt the first time you speak to them! and im sure you dont regulary hear your own voice through recordings so its alien to you!

Answer 5

It's simply because you hear it from a different position. When you speak, you hear yourself from the inside and the outside. The people who are listening to you only hear what comes out of your mouth, not the vibrations that you can hear from inside as well.

When you listen to your voice that has been recorded, you hear it like like your friends and family hear it, meaning you only hear what came out of your mouth. That's why it sounds so different.

I know exactly what you mean, I also found it very strange the first time I heard myself as others do.

Answer 6

Firstly, Vibration also pass directly to your ear drum through your body into the ear when you speak, like said above, changing how it sounds.

Secondly, most voice recorders only record at 8Khz a second, where as a song is 128Khz  a second, so the quality is much reduced. This could make it sound fairly distorted too. Also, you listen to your voice most of anyone, so you can pick out even small changes to it more than anyone else.

Answer 7

When it's played back you're only hearing the sounds that come actually come out.  A lot of time your "inner monologue" will fill in enunciation and tone a lot more than actually comes out of your mouth, so it doesn't sound the same when your brain doesn't supply the missing pieces.