Name: Why You Don't Like to Hear Your Own Voice
Uploaded: 2020-03-23T09:00:42.000Z
Duration: 7 min 54 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The imperative

Take two pieces of something like cardboard – a couple file folders will do! – and

place them by each side of your head right in front of your ears.

It’ll sound different, and you probably won’t like it one bit!

Ok, probably easier to just whip your phone out and record yourself…

That’s really the only time you ever hear your own voice – when it’s recorded in

(Well, now you can do that cardboard party trick too!)

And you’re not alone in thinking, “Who is that clumsy, mumbling fella?”

Then you look at the screen and realize to great shame that…

And sorry to break it to ya, but what you hear on the recording is what people around

But they don’t mind, so why should you sweat about it so much?

Still, you probably do because it’s so different from how you hear yourself when you’re speaking.

Yes, you hear your voice all the time, more than anyone in the world, but it comes from

The last thing you do is hear it with your own ears.

It’s mostly the job of bones in your skull to send the vibrations of your voice to your

And they aren’t as great at that as your ears are.

They’re like a bad mic that’s more attuned to collecting all the lower-pitch sounds.

So if you thought that you have a smooth baritone or bass, that’s probably not the case, unfortunately.

Your real voice is higher than you think!

A recording of your voice may even sound cartoonish.

Some self-made voice actors and narrators, like on YouTube, always lower their voices’

pitch through technical means to make it more pleasant to their audience’s ear.

But deep down, they’re probably doing that so it’ll sound more familiar to them.

Because, honestly, their real voices don’t bother their audience at all!

Do you like the way your voice sounds to you better than to others?

What about your reflection in the mirror compared to photos taken of you?

More on the picture thing a bit later, but let me know down in the comments!

Once your skull bones have bounced those voice vibrations around and sent them to your inner

ear, the great deceiver – your own brain – does its part.

Probably to make you feel good about yourself and make you more confident, so great job

Your voice to others, though, doesn’t sound as buttery and poised…sorry.

And once you decide that you need to work on your speech and be more attentive to yourself,

this is where it starts to work against you…

Professional singers, voice actors, and coaches explain that when you speak, more than half

your body takes its part in the formation of the resulting sound.

Posture, the tension in your muscles, your stress levels, and even overall state of health

affects how your voice will sound in the end.

There are AI systems today that can figure out someone’s exact age, mood, how well

their heart works, and even the month of pregnancy using only a recording of their voice!

You, on the other hand, won’t be able to notice any of that because your mind cancels

out all the stuff it considers unnecessary.

Long story short, your voice is one of the greatest sources of information about you,

but it only works for everyone around you.

You hear your voice all the time, but your brain never listens to it.

It’s stressful to be self-aware on that level.

This stress is a big part of all the uncomfortable feelings you have when you hear yourself!

If you listen to your voice on tape or video, it can tell you a lot about yourself that

Whoa, my accent is thicker than I thought!

An especially helpful tip for anyone who does a lot of public speaking!

But this conflict between what you and others hear when you speak isn’t the only reason

why you might cringe at the sound of your own voice.

If this recording is from your past, you probably have every right to do so.

Our voices change drastically throughout our lives.

In just a couple years, you may not recognize yourself speaking at first.

That, and we tend to be really critical of our past selves, and for most of us, for good

Maybe you went through a weird phase at some point.

“Washing and combing your hair is for conformists!”

Oh, I know, I lived through the early 90s, when grunge was in, and personal hygiene was

We’ve all had our fads, and I can feel your pain through the screen right now.

All you want to do is forget about that period entirely.

But when you hear your voice from that time, your instincts tell you to run for your life

And this is where the difference between your perception of yourself and how people generally

I bet your relatives say something like, “You were so cute!” when they hear your crackly

Yet you’re over there getting redder and redder with each second.

Your voice is surprisingly elastic even without age-related changes.

Did you know that you have a unique voice for every person you talk to on a regular

You never speak the same way with any of your friends, coworkers, or relatives.

But once again – your mind won’t let you notice that.

And here’s a trick to find out if someone likes you: listen to their pitch.

In fact, we all change our voice, pitch, even our accent to fit in with the people around

Spend some time down South, and your friends and family up North will be amused by your

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Why You Don't Like to Hear Your Own Voice

perception

recognize

accent

reveal