The sound of my voices
It is a proven fact no two fingerprints are alike. With over six billion people in the world, that is quite a feat. Each person has their own person stamp on individuality.
The same can be said about our voices. From Barry White to Gilbert Gottfried, distinction doesn’t suffer from discrimination.
**
As I'm visiting a D's workplace, I talk to someone in the hallway before meeting up with her. The chat is nothing special. Short, polite.
While trotting down the stairs, I hear the quickening pace of someone running after me. It's D.
“Steven,” she says, almost out of breath, “I thought I heard your voice in the hallway and wanted to make sure it was you.”
“Is my voice that distinctive?” I answer, raising an eyebrow. There are hundreds of voices she hears on a daily basis, whether it be in person, on the phone, or on television. How can mine be so specific?
“Well, you are the only person I know that sounds like you.”
Interesting, but true.
Whenever I call someone, whoever answers knows it's me with the first words that come from my mouth. Whether it’s family, friends, or parents of friends, they recognize the timbre and tone of my voice within seconds.
Throughout the years, both my external voice and internal voice changed. One was due to puberty, the other maturity.
My external voice has the same range as before: from the lapses into foreign accents, to the various tones (screeches to a low and throaty laugh), it’s reminiscent of my youth.
The internal one is a whole other story: it's accentless, less lyrical and tonally flat (much like grown-up, rational thought).
When both of them come together, it's mind-clash.
This happens mosts often when listening to your voicemail message. Now that's unsettling. One is heard out loud while the other is inside your head. Do you really sound like that, or do you sound like the person you think you sound like in your head?
Personally, I couldn't care less.
I hate the sound of both my voices.
The same can be said about our voices. From Barry White to Gilbert Gottfried, distinction doesn’t suffer from discrimination.
**
As I'm visiting a D's workplace, I talk to someone in the hallway before meeting up with her. The chat is nothing special. Short, polite.
While trotting down the stairs, I hear the quickening pace of someone running after me. It's D.
“Steven,” she says, almost out of breath, “I thought I heard your voice in the hallway and wanted to make sure it was you.”
“Is my voice that distinctive?” I answer, raising an eyebrow. There are hundreds of voices she hears on a daily basis, whether it be in person, on the phone, or on television. How can mine be so specific?
“Well, you are the only person I know that sounds like you.”
Interesting, but true.
Whenever I call someone, whoever answers knows it's me with the first words that come from my mouth. Whether it’s family, friends, or parents of friends, they recognize the timbre and tone of my voice within seconds.
Throughout the years, both my external voice and internal voice changed. One was due to puberty, the other maturity.
My external voice has the same range as before: from the lapses into foreign accents, to the various tones (screeches to a low and throaty laugh), it’s reminiscent of my youth.
The internal one is a whole other story: it's accentless, less lyrical and tonally flat (much like grown-up, rational thought).
When both of them come together, it's mind-clash.
This happens mosts often when listening to your voicemail message. Now that's unsettling. One is heard out loud while the other is inside your head. Do you really sound like that, or do you sound like the person you think you sound like in your head?
Personally, I couldn't care less.
I hate the sound of both my voices.
Authored by S at 12:00 am
6 Comments:
I've only heard the one ... and I like it just fine.
I wonder why we all recoil at the sound of our own voices. I bet there are singers who hate hearing themselves.
I have about 17 inner voices. They often quarrel.
Yeah, it took me a while to get into my own voice. Still haven't in some ways. But I can do marvelous things with it. The dialect trick is one of my faves. I can say without embarrassment that I have a truly talented tongue.
kb
Six: What are you talking a-boot?
Jeff: We're all individuals who speak out voice/mind. We just don't want to hear about those on the religious right (yawn).
Torn: Initially, I was going to make a joke about the voices in my head, but that would've been too easy.
KB: There's a dialect in middle America (Wyoming, specifically)?
Oh man! Do I hear you on that one. I sound like a little girl and I sound exactly like my mother.
I've also found that my very female voice can really carry when I'm in a room full of men. Which I so often am. (Lucky me.)
TG: The day I sound like my mother, is the day I send her to the home and kill myself.
Oh my God, I think I heard her voice fly out of my mouth when I wrote that.
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