Does your own voice on recordings annoy you? It's Okay - You're Not Alone (4 photos)

Admit it, when listening to your own voice, you sometimes think, "What a nightmare! Is that my voice?" We want to reassure you—this is a completely normal and easily explained phenomenon, related to the peculiarities of our anatomy and psyche. We'll explain why this happens now.





This phenomenon has long been known to science and even has its own name—vocal confrontation. It's most easily explained from an anatomical perspective. When we speak, we perceive our voice not only through air vibrations but also through the vibrations of the cranial bones. In a recording, however, we hear pure sound, uncorrupted by bone tissue. That's why a voice heard from someone else seems higher-pitched than usual and, because of this characteristic, unpleasing.



Of course, we expect to hear the voice of an action hero or a languid beauty, but instead hear the voice of Mickey Mouse, which involuntarily evokes a smile. University of Essex psychologist Dr. Slyke Palman explains this phenomenon from the perspective of his science:

"The fact that we speak higher than we expect makes us feel uncomfortable; our voice plays a huge role in shaping our identity, and I think no one likes to realize they're not who they think they are."

But this is only one explanation. Experts in other fields also have their own perspective. Some confusion was thrown into the well-established psychological theory by an experiment conducted by a group of European scientists. They asked a group of volunteers to rate the attractiveness of voices they heard. Among the recordings, they also included tracks with the participants' own voices, without their knowledge. It turned out that the volunteers rated their own voices quite highly, but only when they didn't know who they belonged to.





In 1966, scientists Phil Holzeman and Clyde Rousey also conducted experiments that demonstrated that vocal confrontation is caused by more than just changes in perceived frequency. Psychologists claimed that dissatisfaction with one's voice is subconscious—a person feels discomfort because their voice reveals their emotional state, such as insecurity or anger.



Their study also showed that people who learned a second language after age 16 were significantly more dissatisfied with recordings in their native language than with recordings in a foreign language. This fact can't be explained by the structure of the skull—it's much more complex, and the secret lies in our brains. Neurologist Mark Pell of McGill University comments on research in this area:

"I think many people are dissatisfied when evaluating their recorded voice. Almost always, what they hear doesn't correspond to the social image they would like to project to others."

How do you rate your voice when heard from the outside? Are there any of us who are completely satisfied with their timbre and diction?