Why do talking/singing toys not only slow down, but also distort at lower voltage?

Question

I kinda understand how relatively low voltage could mean lower pitch or slower speed, but I don’t get how some videos of low battery toys show them getting loud and/or crunchy and distorted.

In: 15

Answer 1

The microcontrollers that run those toys are controlled by oscillators (clocks) that need to be ran within a fairly strict battery voltage range or else they perform erratically. Similar to if you were jogging and the ground started getting softer until you started missing steps and stumbling. Some of those ‘steps’ involve playing digital sound files so the sound distorts, like a digital version of a record skipping.