Why does my voice sound weird when it’s recorded?
But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
This episode of But Why explores the science behind how voices work, why they sound different when recorded, and what makes each person's voice unique. Host Jane Lindholm is joined by
Key takeaways
- Your voice sounds different on recordings because you hear it both through air conduction (what others hear) and bone conduction (how your brain perceives your own voice).
- Vocal cords vibrate when air from the lungs passes through them, creating sound that is shaped by the vocal tract—nose, mouth, throat.
Main topics
- How the human voice works
- Anatomy of the larynx and vocal cords
Notable quotes
"Your voice box is an instrument made up of two strings—your vocal cords—that vibrate when air passes through them."
Conclusion
Understanding the science behind our voices helps us appreciate this essential part of
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:01) But why is 300th episode is coming right up? It's safe to say we've answered several thousand questions from kids all over the world in our last 10 years. And now we have a question for you. What's your favorite episode? We're hoping to hear from a lot of kids telling us what episode you really like and why. Then we can include those in our 300th episode. Adults, record your kid telling us about their favorite episode and be sure they include their first name, how old they are, and where they're from. And adults, you're welcome to share too. Send the recording to questions at butwhykids.org by September 11th. We can't wait to hear about your favorite episodes. This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm Jane Lindholm. On this show, we take questions from curious kids just like you, and we find answers. I've been working in radio and podcasting for a long time now. In addition to hosting But Why, I hosted a daily news show in Vermont for longer than most of you have probably been alive. And even before that, I was doing reporting for national public media organizations. So I'm pretty used to hearing the sound of my own voice. I mean, I have to listen to myself over and over whenever I edit these episodes. So the way I sound in my headphones doesn't really throw me off anymore. But some of you might have had an experience where you hear yourself in a recording, like if your adults record you asking a question for but why, and then you listen back to it, and maybe you've thought, wait, that's what I sound like? That's a pretty normal reaction, and it's not just feeling cringe about the unfamiliarity of hearing yourself talk. It turns out your voice, the you hear as you speak, is slightly different from what your friends and family hear, or what you hear when you listen to yourself on a recording. Many of you have been wondering why that is. You've sent us quite a few questions over the years asking why you sound different in your head than you do on tape. So we're going to talk about that in this episode. And we're also going to tackle other questions about your voice and how it works. Now, it's worth mentioning that not everyone is able or chooses to use their voice, and not everyone can hear their own voice. But many of you do, and it's always useful to have more information, right? Our guest for this episode is Dr. Anne Shee, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Boston Children's Hospital. That's right. Speaker 2 (2:58) otolaryngologist. In Speaker 1 (2:59) plainer English, an ear, nose, and throat doctor. But it's funny because when you say otolaryngologist, you're really only including the ear and the throat. And so the nose is not included. And so the proper term to include ear, nose, and throat should be otorhinolaryngologist, but that makes the word even longer. Speaker 2 (3:22) It's funny too because You think, well, why would you include a rhino in that? Rhinos Speaker 1 (3:27) don't have anything to do with my nose. But all Speaker 2 (3:29) of those pieces of the word mean the parts of your body, just not in English. Speaker 1 (3:35) Correct. So oto for ear, rhino, which sounds like the animal, but it's not, means nose. And laryngology or voice is for voice box. Wow. Speaker 2 (3:47) That's a lot of things to specialize in. Why are ears? Nose. Nose and throat all put together because they don't function the same way. They don't have the same, you know, structures. They seem very different, just they're all in my face. Speaker 1 (4:04) That is a good question. They are all close together in proximity and they basically help with different senses. So what you smell, what you hear, what you say and how you communicate. And so that's how it all comes together. Speaker 2 (4:21) So what we're hoping to talk to you a lot about today is the laryngology part of it, the throat, and specifically our voices. Because a voice is something that, for those of us who are able to speak, can be a really important part of our identity. And sometimes we don't think about it at all. And we just, you know, we're running around on the playground yelling. But when we stop to think about it, it can be really confusing. So let's start at the very... basic level and a lot of kids just want to know how does our voice work? Speaker 4 (4:55) My name is Lila and I'm five years old. I live in Convent, Illinois and my question is well how does our body make our voice? Hi my name is Sabrina. I'm six years old. I'm from New York City. How does your voice work? Hi, my name is Felix. I live in Port Anoga. I'm four and a half years old. How do people get their voices? Bye. Hi, my name is Eli. I'm five years old, and I live in San Diego, California, and I want to know, how do you get your voices? Speaker 1 (5:35) That is a great question. So we have this really important organ in our body and it's called the larynx or the voice box. And basically this organ sits in the middle of the neck and it has a role in helping you to breathe, to swallow and to talk. So the way that I like to think about the voice box is the voice box is an instrument and it's made up of two strings, which are your vocal cords, and they vibrate against each other. And then that's how you get the sound out. So in order to get your vocal cords to vibrate, you take a breath in. And then when you breathe out, you push the air from your lungs through your windpipe or your trachea past the vocal cords, which then vibrate. Then the sound passes. through the back of your throat, your nose, and your mouth, and then that's what you hear. Speaker 4 (6:25) I'm River. I live in Greenville, Ontario, Canada, and I'm four years old and three quarters. And my question is, how do we speak from a voice box? Speaker 3 (6:40) My name is Fiona Brassard. I am six years old. I live in Hancock, America, and how do voice boxes work? Speaker 1 (6:50) So it's not an actual box, but it's a structure that is made up of muscle, cartilage, and tissue that sits in