I can walk around all day and not encounter a voice of someone who sounds like someone else I know, yet if I was facing away from someone I knew and heard their voice, I’d likely turn around at the sound of it. There are times where I’ll see faces and think they look like someone I know, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself or commented to someone that they sound like someone I know. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone who’s voice sounds like a celebrity that I’d recognize, unless they’re doing an intentional impression.
Does the brain not seek out similar voices in the same way it may faces? Is the brain able to identify people that distinctly that it can remember their exact voice pattern and discern it from others?
In: 124
The answer is twofold. First: Humans are social creatures and have developed to be able to distinguish between minute details of the voice. For other animals we may very well sound all pretty much sound alike.
And the second thing is that at the point of origin (your vocal chords) most voices sound very similar but the soundwaves bounce of all of your fleshy walls in a very unique pattern that only your body has, always changing them ever so slightly until your voice sounds like you.
Of course size of the vocal chords matter as well for the frequenzy in which they vibrate.
Fun fact: you Sound different to yourself than to others because you also hear yourself over your vibrating skull bones. So the voice you hear when you are recording yourself is how other people hear you.
Latest Answers