WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Do You Hate the Sound of Your Own Voice?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren Vocabam, and today's episode is another classic from

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<v Speaker 1>our erstwhile host, Christian Sager. He's here to explain why

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<v Speaker 1>we're all weirded out by the sound of our own voice. Hi,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Christian Sager and welcome to brain Stuff. Have you

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<v Speaker 1>ever heard a recording of yourself played back and thought?

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<v Speaker 1>Why do I sound like that? It happens to me

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<v Speaker 1>every time I listen to this podcast. It is weird, right,

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<v Speaker 1>Usually our voices sound deeper, but when played back the

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<v Speaker 1>way everyone else hears them, they're higher and tenure. Why

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<v Speaker 1>does it sound so different and why do we hate

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<v Speaker 1>it so much? Well, the sound of your voice reaches

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<v Speaker 1>your inner ear in two different ways. The vocal folds

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<v Speaker 1>in your throat vibrate, creating sound waves that travel through

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<v Speaker 1>the air, But those sound vibrations also conduct through your body,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly through your skull and bones. Our skulls lower the

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<v Speaker 1>frequency of these later vibrations as they bounce around inside

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<v Speaker 1>our throat, mouth, and neck before reaching the ears cochlea

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<v Speaker 1>through the fleshy tissue in our heads. The surrounding bones

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<v Speaker 1>spread out the vibrations lower their pitch and enhance the

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<v Speaker 1>lower frequency vibrations, so your voice sounds fuller and deeper.

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<v Speaker 1>When we hear our voice played back on a recording,

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<v Speaker 1>we don't get it filtered through flesh and bone. What

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<v Speaker 1>we're hearing, then, is only the air conducted sound of

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<v Speaker 1>our voice as waves of pressure. These vibrations are caught

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<v Speaker 1>by our outer ears and then transmitted through our ear drums,

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<v Speaker 1>where they vibrate three bony ousticles before reaching the cochlea.

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<v Speaker 1>In both cases, the cochlea converts these vibrations into impulses

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<v Speaker 1>that are sent to the brain. But with the elimination

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<v Speaker 1>of the bone conducted sound, we end up hearing our

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<v Speaker 1>voice the way everyone else hears it. Most of us

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<v Speaker 1>have had this experience, and we hate it. We're used

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<v Speaker 1>to the combination of the air conducted and bone conducted

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<v Speaker 1>sounds of our voice. It's what we've lived with all

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<v Speaker 1>of our lives, so of course it's unsettling to hear

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<v Speaker 1>something so different than what we're used to. But remember this,

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<v Speaker 1>This is how your friends have been hearing you your

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<v Speaker 1>whole life. To them, it is normal. So just relax

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<v Speaker 1>and rest easy, knowing that everyone cringes at the sound

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<v Speaker 1>of their own voice, even Morgan Freeman, well, everyone except

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<v Speaker 1>Morgan Freeman. Today's episode was written by Christian and produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler. Playing for more wellness and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>topics that will shake you to the bone, visit our

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<v Speaker 1>home planet, how stuff works dot com.