Does your Voice Change?

Post Reply New Topic

does your voice change at all depending on who your talking to?

Mine does. I cant help it and its feeling quite bizarre. In fact i feel like a different person in front of different people.

does this resonate with anyone?

Sometimes when im talking to people from other countries like mexicans. I tend to sort of talk more like them for some odd reason. I guess so they can understand me better.

Yes, I chalk it up to being INTP. I've read that we're known as mimickers.

My voice changes on my level of comfort. If I'm really comfortable, I may revert to a slight Scottish brogue. (I have a lot of Scots in my family) When upset, I take on a more Jamaican tone. (English spoken first, like Mother. She's from Kingston, learned English before Patois. That's how I sound) When I get overwhelmed and upset, my voice is sort of choppy and strained.

Lots of NTs have a 'phone voice' and sound completely different on the phone, or at work, than they do when they're just chatting.

I'm Scottish on my dad's side and English (Leeds) on my mother's side, and even though I've lived in the same place (just north of Inverness) all my life there's a touch of Leeds in me that comes out if I'm visiting family down south, or in certain situations. Most of the time it's not discernible, though.

Malsane, from your post, you sound as if you'd have a really cool accent! It's kind of ironic that the Jamaican tone is when you're upset, not laid back!

Sometimes I take on the talking style of the person I'm with. Other times, mostly with people I'm uncomfortable with, my voice sounds and feels robotic and fake.

Yes. I assume different tones for different situations.
I do tend to take on someone else's accents/vocal
mannerisms sometimes. Like Brandon-J says,
I feel like they might be able to understand me
better. It is true in many situations. Once I was in
Mexico looking for Vik's Vapo Rub, for some reason.
If you pronounce it in English, no one will understand
you. If you pronounce it "veeks VAH-poh Roob"
you get service. Same goes when I'm in a Chinese
restaurant. I'll pronounce certain words the way they
do because that's how they'll recognize those words.
I'm not condescending when I do this. At least I hope
I don't come across this way.

I used to live in Brooklyn. I took on a Brooklyn accent.
I used to live in Manhattan. I speak this way when I go
back to visit.
I've spent time in Memphis, and a drawl automatically
comes back to me whenever I speak with someone from
the south.
When in Spain, I drop the Mexican accent in certain
situations. If I am out at night with people my age I
switch back to the Mexican accent. They love Mexicans.
When I'm in East LA, or I talk to someone from there,
I talk like that, aye.

But I can't just start speaking like a New Yorker if there
is no one from New York to speak to. I find this part
weird.

I tend automatically speak differently to women and men.

I think this was part of a problem I had with a man at work. He said I was being 'short' with him. All it was was that I spoke to some women, and then spoke to him and my voice immediately went deeper, fletter and with less intonation. I can see where the problem might have arisen.

It changes every moment, and I can't understand the reason. Sometimes it seems to me that I don't have my own voice.

It's terribel, but I actually tend to be a mimic, not on purpose, it just happens. It terrible if the person has a stutter or lisp, cos I actually can copy them.

when I would talk to older individuals,or when I am trying to be polite i end up speaking with a southern drawl,or when I am intimidated by black people i tend to talk like them

Yes I do...

I'm so happy to read that others do this as much as I do!! I'm a teacher and, at parents' evenings, often change my accent five or six times to match the person I'm talking to. Occasionally I get paranoid thinking they'll be comparing notes later. "She's Scottish!" "No, you fool, she's clearly from the Midlands". In shops etc also, I'm convinced that people won't understand my (very clear and loud) voice. In restaurants I tend to point at the item as well as say its name. oddly, in foreign countries, i feel much more confident about being understood. More confident generally, actually. I know that's a different issue, but does anyone else find the same thing?

Yes. I do (unintentionally) mimick other people's voices, accents and speech patterns (I don't know if that's related to echolia). When I'm not, my "normal" voice changes a bit in pitch, and sometimes I sound more nasal than others. Sometimes I speak in monotone, sometimes I don't.

Yep, it's a comfort thing.