Quick question please answer

[infinite_personalities101]

Do people actually sound the way they think they sound?

For example, when I hear myself talk, I think I have a normal voice and whatever, but when I hear myself talk on a voicemail or on a recorder i sound completely different and in all seriousness like a five year old and I hate it!

So is it the electronics, or is it because it's how I truly sound???? Please, please, please, please answer.....  

[wakusei]

You hear your own voice partially through the air, and partially through your own vocal chords and up inside your body.

The way you sound on a recorder would be how others hear you. Give or take a little based on how good the recording device is.

So no. No one sounds the way they do to themselves. I think everyone hears their voice deeper than it actually is.  

[Erverain]

The answer comes from the glorious realms of SCIENCE. People hear themselves differently than how they sound to others through what is known as bone conduction, where the sound vibrates through the bones in your ears and through the vocal chords to produce how you hear yourself. Since recordings have no such thing, you are hearing how you actually sound.  

[infinite_personalities101]

Erverain, but if i hear how i truly sound do other people hear the same thing?? i know wakusei already kind of answered but i'd like 2 facts, just to support.....

lol sorry wakusei thank u for answering but it kinda made me more depressed lol
and thank u both for replying  

[Erverain]

Sorry, I worded that oddly. What I meant to say is that the recording, which is devoid of the interference from bone and chord conduction, is how you really sound. That's how others hear you.  

[infinite_personalities101]

aww o ok thanks u guys i really appreciate it  

[wakusei]

Sorry I made you sad... sweatdrop

If you don't like your voice, I'm sure it's just because you're not used to it. I know I freak out every time I hear a recording of my voice.

I'm sure no one thinks your voice is strange!  

[infinite_personalities101]

o its ok

no my voice is seriously really bad
like a 5 year old with a really bad nasal condition and i'm 15 it sucks >.<

i really wanted to try to sing a solo for a chorus holiday thing but i guess i won't now. i wanted to know what i sounded like so i listened to it on a recorder setting on my camera, singing the song and it sounded awful. and i'm not exaggerating so now i'm kinda depressed. but o well i'll get over it

again thank you!  

[Trish the Stalker]

infinate_personalities101

o its ok

no my voice is seriously really bad
like a 5 year old with a really bad nasal condition and i'm 15 it sucks >.<

i really wanted to try to sing a solo for a chorus holiday thing but i guess i won't now. i wanted to know what i sounded like so i listened to it on a recorder setting on my camera, singing the song and it sounded awful. and i'm not exaggerating so now i'm kinda depressed. but o well i'll get over it

again thank you!

I'm 22 and sound like a little kid. I always cringe listening to myself on recordings.

-Formerly La Belle Isolde-

 

[Kalstolyn]

Kals is questing again!

There are things you can do to improve your voice. Singing lessons (from someone who knows what they're doing, not someone who thinks everyone should belt like a pop star!) might help to make your singing voice richer and less nasal, and you can actually apply some of that to your speaking voice as well.

Also, while the physical explanation provided by Erve and Waku is correct (I thought everyone knew that by about grade 6, what are they teaching you kids in science these days?), what you are hearing is also filtered through your own perceptions. You know how the hot tub feels shockingly hot when you first stick your toes in after walking across the cold deck? Or have you ever taken a big gulp of soy milk when you were expecting cow's milk? Your brain is expecting a certain type and quality of stimulus (information from your senses) and when it gets something different, the contrast seems to be exaggerated. So yes, that is how your voice sounds to other people, but your brain is generally interpreting it to be juuuuust a tiny bit worse than other people's might.

Check sig for details!

 

[infinite_personalities101]

thanks for the advice but i don't think my voice is fixable  

[Kalstolyn]

Kals is questing again!

Haha it's less a matter of "fixing" it and more a matter of becoming more comfortable with it. People with the most annoying voices in the world can do amazing things with their voices because they have learned how to use them appropriately and confidently.

Check sig for details!

 

[God-Raped-Me]

Belle, If you sound like a kid then I sound like an infant! I HATE the voice that others hear! It's not sexy it's not mysterious, it's just stupid! However the voice that *I* hear, man is it ever hot!  

[Shram]

its kinda sexy steph =D

I just sound like an teenager, tis all I know.  

[God-Raped-Me]

O.O
*****!
rofl
My voice is NOT sexy in the least, but thanks anyways.