There’s a common and unsettling experience we all share: when we hear our voice played back on a recording, it sounds… off. Strange. Maybe even unpleasant. You’ve probably thought, “Do I really sound like that?” If so, you’re not alone—and yes, there’s a perfectly good explanation.
To understand this, we just need to ask two simple questions:
- What do we hear when we speak?
- What do others (and recording devices) hear when we speak?
What Do We Hear When We Speak?
When we talk, we hear our own voice in two ways at once:
- Through the air (air conduction): the sound leaves our mouth, travels through the air, and enters our ears—just like it does for everyone else.
- Through our bones (bone conduction): the vibrations from our vocal cords also travel through the bones of our skull directly to the inner ear.
These two sources combine in our brain and give us a deeper, fuller version of our voice—one that emphasizes lower frequencies. This is why our voice sounds richer and more pleasant to us.
What Do Others Hear?
Other people—and recording devices—only hear the sound that travels through the air. That means they’re missing the low-frequency enhancements that bone conduction adds. So when you listen to a recording of yourself, you’re hearing your voice the way others hear it: thinner, higher-pitched, and sometimes even unfamiliar.
So Which Voice Is the Real One?
The short (and slightly disappointing) answer is: the one on the recording. That’s how your voice actually sounds to everyone else. The version you hear in your head is colored by internal vibrations that no one else can hear.
It may be jarring at first, but remember: no one else finds your recorded voice as strange as you do. They’ve been hearing that version all along.
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