Most of us wince and grimace at hearing the sound of our own voice played back in a video or audio clip, but why is this? What makes the voice in our head so different from the one everyone else is listening to? Well, the scientific explanation behind the phenomenon is all to do with the vibrations inside our bodies that no one else hears, reports sciencealert.com.
According to Rachel Feltman at The Washington Post, when we hear other people speak, our eardrums and inner ears vibrate from the sound waves coming in from outside; vibrations that the brain converts into sound. The same is true when we hear ourselves speaking, but added to these external sound waves are other internal vibrations from deep within our bodies — vibrations from our vocal cords and airways that get added to the mix.
As a result, the voice we hear inside our heads is lower, richer and more mellifluous because of these extra rumblings, and hearing it come from outside ourselves (on a YouTube video for example) makes it sound tinny and alien. It’s no wonder we don’t like it without the deeper and richer undertones added by our internal hearing system.
The good news is that your voice isn’t grating for your friends and acquaintances at all — it’s the one they’ve grown accustomed to and they’ve never heard the one inside your head.
www.sciencealert.com
