Why does your voice sound so different on a playback?

Question

xx_muggles_xx · Accepted Answer

The reason your voice sounds different on playback is because you hear your voice from inside your head in hexagonal stereo.  You hear it from inside your body as well as outside therefore making it sound different when you hear it recorded only from the outside of your body thus taking away any resonance from the inside of your body.

dr schmitty · Answer

One major reason that peoples' voices sound different on playback is that when you speak you not only "hear" your voice; you actually "feel" it.  The phenomenon is called bone conduction- your vocal cords resonate your head.  The net effect is that your voice sounds artificially thin and lacks bass when played back, or when played over a PA.

p.s. I know that there are a few soundguys out there who might say that one's voice would sound deeper via the microphone, but that is a function of proximity effect; it varies based on the technique of the user as well as the pattern of the microphone.  Cheesier mics, like those on computers and cellphones, usually do not exhibit this effect.

Garth M · Answer

your voice doesn't sound different. because of where our ears are positioned in relation to our mouths we never get to hear what our voices really sound like until we listen on playback.

mybootyisthatbig79 · Answer

It sounds exactly like how it sounds in real life-it just sounds different to you, because you hear your own voice all the time...

alwaysmoose · Answer

When you hear your voice as you talk you are hearing it through vibrations in your bones and the air. That's why when you cover your ears your voices sounds buzzy.  When you hear arecording that is all through the air.

Baby&#39;sMom · Answer

Different from what? If you mean from what it sounds like in your head, that's because when you speak, you hear it inside your head and the bone structure screws with what you hear. The recording is what everyone else hears.

Trick of the Tail · Answer

I don't know, but I'm sure the answer involves a lot of complex mathematics.

Anonymous · Answer

Your voice is recorded as transmited only by air.

The one you hear is transmitted both by air and body.

serenitie51 · Answer

Don't know.
How come you look 10 pounds heavier when ur on TV?

LCee · Answer

its the same your just hearing your self the way the rest of the world hears you

Why does your voice sound so different on a playback?

14 Answers