This is why your own voice always sounds so terrible

Honestly, you have also recorded your own voice while singing your favorite song to see how you sound. And especially: to see if you might have a singing career ahead of you. In my case, that was a big no, because it sounded terrible. Maybe my favorite song just doesn't fit my key, I thought. But it wasn't the song, it was me. No singing career then.

The first time I heard my voice loud and clear on a recording, I really thought: WHUT? Is this really me? This terrible, shrill, harsh voice coming out of the speakers? Please tell me I don't really sound like this. Does that sound familiar? Then I have news for you. To start with the bad news: you really do sound like that. But there is also good news: for no one else is your voice as confronting as it is for you. And fortunately, that has a logical explanation.

Our body is quite a wonderful thing and our hearing system is the same. Simply put: when you speak, you hear yourself in two ways: internally and externally. Internally because of your vocal cords in your throat, to your neck and into your skull. This route softens your voice somewhat, which also makes your ‘real’ voice sound harsh and shrill when you hear it. Because when you hear your voice on a recording, that's only the external side, and we hear that too (it comes to your eardrum through the air), but the internal side is missing.

And that makes your voice sound strange, or you might not even recognize it. Fun fact: a study at an American university in 2013 showed that people mainly find their voice ugly when they know it's their own voice. So if you don't realize that at all, there's a good chance that voice doesn't sound that bad at all.

So no worries, your voice is really just fine. Well, for talking anyway. Because that singing career... Unfortunately, no internal or external voice can change that.