Do you have a voice that has an unusual sound?

Post Reply New Topic

Do you have a voice that has an unusual sound?

I have an unusually deep, baritone voice that makes me sound much older and more masculine than I look. It can be kind of shocking for people to hear me speak for the first time. I call it the "Tay Zonday effect."

Last edited by Ah_Q on 25 Dec 2008, 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've trained myself to speak pretty low, mostly because I get irritated when people speak in high-pitch and I want to spare others the torment.

Absolutely! People that I talk to over the phone always say "I remember YOUR voice!" I played a character in a radio show one time and had everyone on campus telling me they heard me on the radio. I do specialist investigative work on the telephone for an insurance company and people think my precise diction and voice modulation is a 'recording' all the time, and they are right, because I have made more than a few of the recordings for telephone trees, etc.
My singing voice is excellent, with near perfect pitch, I have always regretted never having the opportunity to train with vocal professionals.

but yeah, when I was a child I was thought to be putting on a "English Accent" meaning British English. I grew up in Wichita, KS in the 1950's and though we were not completely hicks from the sticks, it was pretty odd for a little girl to speak so.

Merle

I've always disliked hearing my voice. To me it sounds too young. But I don't think it's odd, just i think if you spoke with me on the phone you'd maybe think i was a high school kid.

I do have an amusing semi-related story though about my nephew. He had his tonsils removed and they had some trouble healing and had some kind of complication so now he has a really squeaky voice. If you remember that show with Erkel (the name of the show escapes me atm) he sounds just like him. We get him to around saying "did i do thaaaaaaat" and it's pretty funny.

It was called Family Matters. I have a friend who talks a lot like that. In his case it was just genetics. People mistake him for his mother on the phone.

Yes. I have a deep voice. I am sure it is AS related like everything else.

Here is my voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GqxkIPkh4w


It sounds weird and I get asked where I am from. My voice is also loud.

When I was a kid, I hated how I talked because kids made fun of me about it. Then I learned how to accept it when I learned people talked different in other parts of the country and it was my turn to say they talk weird and say words wrong. At least it made me feel better about how I talked even though one of my friends told me in 4th grade I sound like I'm from New York. I never notice their accents in movies that take place there. Well, they're movies and they use actors so they aren't accurate about the way people talk there.

I guessed new JERSEY until I remembered that....

You were pretty deaf as a kid, right?

There IS a quality to your voice that sounds like some that were profoundly deaf. They never get the tone QUITE right. Maybe you, hearing clearer now, and having heard accents that were so close to that, kind of adopted that.



BTW Accents are all but dead in the US now. When I was a kid, it seemed that ALL from various southern places, massachusetts, new york, new jersey, etc... had DISTINCTIVE accents. TODAY, that seems RARE! My mothers boston accent used to be STRONG!! !! !! !! Today, it seems it is GONE! Some in boston, EVEN WITH ACCENTS, could speak for several minutes before I hear the accent. So it isn't unexpected that you don't hear the accents. Heck, Cliff Clavin is like the only one on cheers that tries to have an accent, and HE fails. My mother laughs at the attempt.

As for me? You could easily believe I just graduated highschool from my voice. One vendor once stoped me mid sentence when I said I was in the industry for 20 years. He just didn't think I was that old.

BTW your voice is probably weird for TODAY and/or washington, but NOT overall. Most would just wonder where you were from, but guess SOMEPLACE around new york/new jersey.

I used to be asked regularly where I was from even though I've lived in Boston all my life. People have said I talk funny, too. I don't hear it so I can't say how, but apparently there is something weird about my speech,

I was deaf when I was a baby. Now I can hear fine. All I heard were sounds my mom said.
My hearing loss was caused by fluid being trapped in my ear so I had to have tubes put in to drain it out. I believe it left damage to my hearing somewhat and it took me a while to recognize sounds in words, I get ringing in my ears sometimes which I thought was normal, loud sudden noise startles me or overwhelms me, and my voice is different. Me talking loud might have just been a coincidence because my dad is loud too and he also talks fast same as I do. Doctors have said my voice is caused by my AS too but how the heck would they know?

I'm quite monotone. My accent isn't very strong either, but I used to be called posh by other children. Now people just call me proper, though I'm not sure wether that's due to my accent or verbiage. Most likely a bit of both.

I hate hearing my own voice on tape. It sounds horribly droll and droning. I always sound like I'm being sarcastic.

Yes, Ihave been told that I sound like that I am crying. My mom always asks me on the phone why I am crying even though I'm not. I'm also moderately to severe hard of hearing and I have that annoying "deaf people" nasal tone. Like nothingunusual I hate hearing my voice on tape, though when I sing on the computer Auto Tune and other programs can make me sound good

The younger you were when you were deaf, the more it affected you. The fluid could do anything from affect tones, to make you totally deaf. Either way, you would be no better than the average deaf person with a cochlear implant. I didn't immediately peg you as deaf because you CAN hear well enough to emulate more normal speech. There are a number of actors/actresses I can peg as deaf, or having been deaf, SIMPLY because of the tone. Your accent helps to hid that, and it isn't as noticable with you.

As for the volume, YOU are the only one that could judge that. With ME, for example, I hear fine and can TELL, once I think about it, that I am talking too loud. My volume changes with NO change in my attitude or desire, so I know it is something else. AS would explain it. With YOU, it COULD be YOU, your hearing, your attitude, habit from your father, etc.... Only YOU can judge. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

BTW Ringing CAN be normal! It is called tinnitus! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus HECK, I have it now, and sometimes as a kid. A LOT of people can be startled by loud noises. Since you WERE deaf, it is probably MORE likely to happen to you now.

I've had someone think I was 5 by the sound of my voice a couple of years ago. I try to talk much deeper now.

People always laugh at me when I read aloud. People laugh at unusual or funny things. Therefore my voice must be unusual, although I don't think so. I do notice how I uncontrollably speak too fast or too slowly at times with an odd rhythm.