Why do I hate the sound of my 'real' voice?

[Nalnik]

I wonder what people that don't like their voice would have liked it to sound like.

More like the voice I hear directly when I speak.

When recorded, I sound gravely and I'm not sure if that's me or the playback. I tend not to speak much because I don't like inflicting that sound on other people, although no one has ever complained about it.

[Jaklina]

I really hate my voice as well. Im supposed to practice songs by recording them and playing them back to make sure I havent made any mistakes and it drives me insane. I think I sound terrible, but everyone says I sound really good.
Ive had a couple people tell me I have a sexy voice which just creeps me out lol. I think I sound nerdy when I hear myself through vent or a recording.

[Dacien]

Well, you do live in Cali...


...jk!

I'm not supposed to say "Hella" because that's a NorCal thing, or at least that's what I've repeatedly been told again and again. I still say it anyway.

[Rainec]

I sound several pitches higher when I hear myself talk, but when I listen to voice memos or recordings my voice is incredibly deep.

Heck, it's a running joke in my guild that I'm not even in my 20s and I have the voice of a 50 year old... and its not just vent or mumble's effects.

[Larynx]

I've noticed that for most people it seems their voice is also a lot lower pitch than how they hear it.

[Markluzz]

SCIENCE TIME!

its a pyschological affect. When you speak and hear yourself in your head its normal. You hear your 'normal' voice so much that when you hear your recorded voice and know its you your brain draws the connection, sees that they sound way differently and says since ht erecorded one is so different, it must be wrong and all things wrong are bad. Thats why, as stated above, most people hate the sound of their own voice.

That's pretty cool, didn't know that actually.

[Digglett]

Almost everybody does.

Pretty much, I think I sound awful.

[Deleted]

Sometimes i hate my voice, sometimes i don't.

[Malgru]

I hate my voice. But it got a little better when I realized I had nearly the exact same voice as WoWCrendor :3

[Powerogue]

I hate mine too, it's a LOT deeper than I sound to myself. I listen to it and think "who is that?"

[personn5]

Yeah, seems about everyone I know does too.

I basically have a monotone, so I hate it more >.>. "WHY DO I SOUND SO BLAND AND BORING"

[Badpaladin]

I've gotten used to the sound of my voice on video, but some of my mannerisms bug me lol!

Hopefully you're old enough to have not been in the generations that use "like" for fucking everything. I try and catch myself and stay concious about it, but all it takes is me being tired or having any moderate amount of alcohol and I'm off the fucking races with that.

Anyways, for the on-topic business - it depends on the audio equipment. Hearing my voice through a phone sounds awful, but when recorded with a very nice microphone and played through good speakers it doesn't bother me.

[ColbaneX]

Part of it is, when you are singing your voice reverberates in your head. You get to hear what your voice sounds like with no interference from room acoustics or air temperature. It's an audiology thing.

[Very Tired]

I have a reason to not like my own voice. I have a lisp and a very deep voice when I talk even though I hear it normal. WTB Morgan Freeman voice.

[Deleted]

Would agree, pretty much everyone does

[Eorayn]

Exactly the same here m8. But I can’t sing

[Zaelsino]

Almost everybody does.

I don't know. I love mine.

[Duridi]

I think my voice sounds god awfull too.

The funny thing is, I change voice depending on what dialect I speak, or language. It's really weird. I speak two different norwegian dialects, and a lot of people that have heard me speak both, say I sound totally different. To top that off, apparently I get really annoying to my boyfriend when I speak english. He hates my english voice . My hate for my voice is also one of the reasons I changed dialect. I think I sound harsh, rude and annoying when speaking my original dialect, while I sound normal with my current one. My boyfriend thinks I sound better when speaking my original one, but I live in his part of the country so I'll just stick with this one. Avoiding having to explain what every second word I say means. Okay, not that bad, but still.

I don't really know why this happens, but I did remove my tonsils as a child, and I recently got told that that can change your voice. My 5 year old niese got a completely new voice after she removed hers. It wasn't recognizable at all. Still not sure how that can take an affect from dialect to dialect or language to language though. My niese got her voice changed permanently, but will change voice completely when she gets exited. None of the two voices she has, are anything like the one she originally had.

[Ohly]

Nearly everyone thinks their voice sounds awful when they hear it recorded. I listened to an interview with a professional voice actress the other day, and even she admitted that she can barely watch anything that she's worked on because she hates hearing her own voice.

[Deleted]

I wonder what people that don't like their voice would have liked it to sound like.

James Earl Jones

But yeah, I'm in the same boat. I occasionally record my own voice when exploring mic issues in Vent/TS and am always surprised by just how crap my voice sounds.

But obviously most people feel that way about their own voice.