How your voice sounds in your head compared with how it actually sounds?

[Echobelly]

My voice sounds quite deep and 'cultured/well spoken' in my head. Unfortunately having to transcribe a discussion I recorded the other day I was reminded I actually sound really droney and nasal and like the voice of someone playing a low-ranking pedantic jobsworth in a sitcom.

I have a meeting tomorrow where I have to present some stuff so, following listening to the recording, I have written all over my notes to vary my cadence and tone - I'm sure... or I hope... I am more varied in normal conversation but I think I can get very monotone when checking notes.

I’ve been told by many people that I have a lovely voice but when I hear it I cringe. 🤷‍♀️ It sounds too soft and, I don’t know, just not nice.

In my mind normal London/South East accent. In reality 1950s BBC announcer.

My head voice sounds a bit higher and more confident. In reality I sound nasally and like I give zero fucks, which works well with my resting bitch face I guess!

Hmm, seems like there's a theme of deep head voices countered by nasally real voices! There's a masters dissertation in there for someone.

In my head I sound like professor mcgonnagell but in reality I sound like the fat Scottish character from Austin powers

I have been told by several people that I sound a lot like Sandi Toksvig, which isn't too bad I suppose.

Oh yes! I actually don't recognise my own voice on a recording. It's so, so different to what I hear!

In my head I speak normally and properly and pronounce everything as it should be. In reality I have an incredibly strong south Yorkshire twang and sound rough as fuck.

When you hear your own voice you hear it through your skull as well as the sounds coming from your mouth into your ears. Your bones help stop some of the higher pitches coming through so you only hear the deeper notes which is why it sounds deeper and richer to you.

I sound like a croaky child. In my head I sound like a croaky adult

I think I sound deeper and less common than my actual voice which is slightly nasal and east London.

I always take a vow of silence whenever I hear my recorded voice. Mariella frostrup is one lucky woman!

I can be quite dry and sarcastic and like to think I deliver things in a deadpan voice... in reality I just sound really dull and one note

Yep, it's so weird isn't it?! I had to record myself reading a story for work and it really came out like a bad audiobook, I hated listening to it. Not as bad as seeing a video of me speaking though, I always look so bored!!

On a related note, I never realised my dad had quite a strong accent until I heard him on the radio?

My lisp is more noticeable to me when I hear my voice played back. It's also higher and younger which is odd. I hear it when I speak as low and a bit gravelly.

I also really really REALLY cannot sing which is so weird because when I sing it sounds in tune and actually quite nice but recorded I can tell that in reality it's flat, monotone, can't carry a tune in a bucket.

Head - Michelle Obama

Actuality - Garth from Waynes World

Queenie from Blackadder with the occasional short vowel sound. It's horrid

I 100% do not sound like this in my head. Pfft

I think everyone sounds deeper when they hear themselves speaking in real time because the sound is reverberating in your head as well as travelling through the air from your mouth to your ears. Cupping your hands behind both ears as you speak makes it sound higher/closer to what other people hear. But that's why most people are suprised by how high pitched/shrill/nasal/soft they sound on recordings- its just the contrast

I had to record the voicemail message for my work mobile, it sounds like a chirpy 15 year old work experience did it. In my head I'm throaty and slightly sardonic sounding, not young and earnest

And voices of other people can sounds really different when you hear them on the phone. DD was away on a summer camp last month and it wasn't until I heard her on the phone I realised how much she suddenly sounds like my sister in law now she's well into adolescence! (only not quite as plummy as DD hasn't been privately educated) DH thought it was his sister when i handed him the phone.

head = Honor Blackman

reality = Peggy Mitchell

Despite always being told I sound posh or well spoken in my head I always thought I either didnt have an accent or sounded a bit london. I do not. I sound very posh.

My brain filters out my lisp so I only hear it on recordings. It’s not a sweet or sexy lisp, just a muffled fluffy noise. Ghastly!

In my head quite well spoken and not at all common
Reality a mix between Kat Slater and Gemma Collins....

Mine is much higher in real life than in my head.