Your voice, when played back to you, can sound unrecognizable.

(图解:你的嗓音如果被播放了出来,那可能会无法辨认)
(2021年5月17日发表,作者为华盛顿大学医学部耳鼻喉科助理教授尼尔·巴特)

As a surgeon who specializes in treating patients with voice problems, I routinely record my patients speaking. For me, these recordings are incredibly valuable. They allow me to track slight changes in their voices from visit to visit, and it helps confirm whether surgery or voice therapy led to improvements.

作为一名专治存在嗓音问题病人的外科医生,我经常会录下我病人的说话声。对我来说,这些录音有着极高的价值。通过它们,我就能追踪病人每次来就诊时嗓音出现的微妙变化,这有助于确认为了改善病情应当采用手术还是嗓音治疗。

Yet I’m surprised by how difficult these sessions can be for my patients. Many become visibly uncomfortable upon hearing their voice played back to them.

然而,让我惊讶的是:这些治疗过程对我的病人来说,可能会非常难熬。很多人听到自己的声音被回放出来,脸色就不对了,明显感到很不舒服。

“Do I really sound like that?” they wonder, wincing.

他们会疑窦丛生,畏畏缩缩地问,“我的声音听起来真是这样的吗?”

(Yes, you do.)

(是的,正是如此)

Some become so unsettled they refuse outright to listen to the recording – much less go over the subtle changes I want to highlight.

有些病人会陷入极度不安,会断然拒绝去听这些录音,更不用说去检视我重点关注的微妙变化了。

The discomfort we have over hearing our voices in audio recordings is probably due to a mix of physiology and psychology.

我们在录音中听到自己的声音时会出现的不适感,可能兼有生理学和心理学方面的原因。

For one, the sound from an audio recording is transmitted differently to your brain than the sound generated when you speak.

其中一个原因是,录音中的声音传导到你大脑的方式,有别于你说话时产生声音的传导方式。

When listening to a recording of your voice, the sound travels through the air and into your ears – what’s referred to as “air conduction.” The sound energy vibrates the ear drum and small ear bones. These bones then transmit the sound vibrations to the cochlea, which stimulates nerve axons that send the auditory signal to the brain.

当你在录音中听到你的声音时,这种声音是经由空气入你的耳的,这被称为“空气传导”。声能会让鼓膜和听小骨振动。之后,这些骨头会把声音振动传导到耳蜗,进而刺激神经轴突,后者会将听觉信号传给大脑。

However, when you speak, the sound from your voice reaches the inner ear in a different way. While some of the sound is transmitted through air conduction, much of the sound is internally conducted directly through your skull bones. When you hear your own voice when you speak, it’s due to a blend of both external and internal conduction, and internal bone conduction appears to boost the lower frequencies.

然而,当你说话的时候,你的嗓音会以不同的方式抵达内耳。虽然这样的声音中有一部分是通过空气传导的,但其中的大部分声音是直接经由颅骨在体内传导的。你在说话时听到的自己的声音,是混合了外部传导和内部传导的结果,而体内的骨骼传导似乎会提高低频。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


For this reason, people generally perceive their voice as deeper and richer when they speak. The recorded voice, in comparison, can sound thinner and higher pitched, which many find cringeworthy.

由于这个原因,人们在感觉上会觉得自己说话时的声音更深沉、也更丰富。相比之下,录音中的声音听起来可能会更单薄、更尖锐,有很多人会为此而生厌。

There’s a second reason hearing a recording of your voice can be so disconcerting. It really is a new voice – one that exposes a difference between your self-perception and reality. Because your voice is unique and an important component of self-identity, this mismatch can be jarring. Suddenly you realize other people have been hearing something else all along.

还有一个原因是,听到录音中自己的声音可能会让人感到非常不安。这的确是一个新的声音,它也暴露出了你的自我认知和现实间的差异。因为你的声音是独一无二的,而且是自我身份认同的重要组成部分,这种不匹配可能会让人不快。突然之间你意识到,旁人一直以来听到的都是别的东西。

Even though we may actually sound more like our recorded voice to others, I think the reason so many of us squirm upon hearing it is not that the recorded voice is necessarily worse than our perceived voice. Instead, we’re simply more used to hearing ourselves sound a certain way.

尽管在别人听来,我们的嗓音可能更像录音里的声音,但我认为,我们中间有如此多的人在听到后会感到不舒服,并不是因为录下的声音一定比我们自己感知到的嗓音低劣,相反,我们只是更习惯自己的嗓音听来自带一种特定的观感。

A study published in 2005 had patients with voice problems rate their own voices when presented with recordings of them. They also had clinicians rate the voices. The researchers found that patients, across the board, tended to more negatively rate the quality of their recorded voice compared with the obxtive assessments of clinicians.

在一项发表于2005年的研究中,他们让存在嗓音问题的患者去听自己嗓音的录音,然后让他们为自己的声音打分。他们还让临床医生给这些声音打分。研究人员发现,相比于临床医生给出的客观评价,患者倾向于对录音中自己的声音给出更负面的评价,无一例外。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


So if the voice in your head castigates the voice coming out of a recording device, it’s probably your inner critic overreacting – and you’re judging yourself a bit too harshly.

因此,如果出现在你脑海中的声音对录音设备播放出的声音有所责难,那很可能是存在于你内心的那个批评家反应过度了,你对自己的评判也有点太过严苛了。

原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处