Why do we hate hearing our own voices?

Most people rarely like to hear the sound of their own voice. In reality, this is a physiological and psychological reaction that could not be more normal according to an ENT doctor.

“Does my voice really sound like that?” “. When listening to a voice transcription, we all have pretty much the same reaction. While we hear it every day, our voice often seems totally different to us when we discover it recorded. We are faced with a sound that is unpleasant to us and makes us uncomfortable. But then, why does our voice not sound like the one we imagine ourselves hearing on a daily basis? And why don’t we love him?

Sound processed in two different ways by our hearing system

As a surgeon specializing in the treatment of patients with voice problems, Neel Bhatt, ENT in Washington, is used to recording the voices of his patients. “A lot of them are visibly uncomfortable when they listen to their voices. They ask me: “Do I really have that voice?”, Grimacing “, he tells the site Metro UK. So much so that some even refuse to listen to the recording. For the doctor, the discomfort we experience hearing our voices in audio recordings is probably due to a mixture of physiology and psychology. In reality, when we speak, we perceive the sound of our voice propagated by the air and bone mode. The sound emitted by the vibrations of our vocal cords resonates in our cranial box, is diffused in our body and bounces on our bones … Our voice thus appears to us more serious than what it is in reality perceived by the people who us. listen. When we hear our voice on a sound recording, for example, the sound travels through the air to our ears. “That’s why people generally perceive their voices to be deeper and deeper when they speak. The recorded voice, in comparison, may sound thinner and higher-pitched, which many people find disturbing ”, explains Neel Bhatt.

The second reason why the voice we listen to on a recording sounds so horrible to us is a little more psychological. “This is a ‘new voice’, which reveals a difference between your perception of yourself and reality. Since your voice is unique and is an important part of your identity, this disconnect can be overwhelming. You suddenly realize that other people have heard another sound from the start ”, specifies the ENT. We are quite simply used to hearing our voice “in our own way” that the sound emitted by the recording seems false, even inaudible.

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Marion Dos Santos Clara

Lifestyle journalist, Marion writes on topics related to psychology, love and sexuality, from a societal perspective. From sexualities to new love codes, she deciphers the …