Did it scare you when you first heard a recording of your own voice? Some people find it hard to believe that it is their own voice and may even shy away from it as it sounds so unfamiliar and peculiar.
When we speak, our vocal cord vibrates and resonates to produce sound energy out in the air, which conducts the sound to the cochlea in our inner ear through the auditory canal. At the same time, the sound energy also travels internally through the tissues of the head to the cochlea. This internal path picks up more low-frequency vibrations, making our voice sound richer and fuller. It is in fact a combination of these two paths that make up the sound we hear when we talk.
As we hear our own voice on audio playback, we hear only the air-conducted component. It therefore sounds much higher-pitched and thinner.
On the contrary, if we put on earplugs to block out the air-conducted sound when we speak, we can hear only bone-conducted vibration, which will generate much deeper sound.
| JPC Monthly Newsletter | |
| Editor： | Police Public Relations Branch, 11/F Arsenal House, Police Headquarters, No. 1 Arsenal Street, Wan Chai, HK. |
| Tel： | 2860 6157 |
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| JPC homepage： | http://www.hkpjpc.org.hk |
| Police homepage： | http://www.police.gov.hk |