Why do we hate the sound of our own voice?

Do you ever ask yourself why your voice sounds so different when it’s recorded?

Apparently, you’re not the only one who thinks your voice sounds strange in recordings.

According to Dr. Yale Cohen of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. the voice you hear when you speak is not the same as what others hear. Ossicles, the three little bones located in the middle ear, are actually responsible for the difference between what you believe you sound like and how others perceive your voice.

In his interview with LiveScience, Dr. Cohen revealed: “The voice that you hear on a tape recorder is actually how your voice sounds.”

The ossicles, which makes it possible for people to process noise, vibrate a little when you hear an acoustic stimulus. Meanwhile, it vibrates more when you talk making your voice always sound loud. As a result, the sound is muddled making you incorrectly hear your voice as having a lower pitch. This is the exact reason why your voice’s pitch sounds much higher in a recording.

Cohen added that people tend to have a strong, negative reaction when hearing themselves speak at a higher pitch. He explained that this is because people think they know what their own voices are supposed to sound like.

“Imagine you didn’t have a mirror for six months and you had a perception of what you looked like. Meanwhile, you start eating lots of food and you gain lots of weight. If you [suddenly looked in a mirror], you’d be shocked,” Cohen said.

Moreover, Cohen noted that musicians or radio personalities, who often hear their recorded voice, might have a different reaction on their voices as they have already become used to hearing the pitch differences.