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Why you don't like the sound of your own voice

4,141,445 views | Rébecca Kleinberger • TEDxBeaconStreet

Your voice is indistinguishable from how other people see you, but your relationship with it is far from obvious. Rébecca Kleinberger studies how we use and understand our voices and the voices of others. She explains why you may not like the sound of your own voice on recordings, the differences between your outward, inward and inner voices -- and the extraordinary things you communicate without being aware of it.

Your voice is indistinguishable from how other people see you, but your relationship with it is far from obvious. Rébecca Kleinberger studies how we use and understand our voices and the voices of others. She explains why you may not like the sound of your own voice on recordings, the differences between your outward, inward and inner voices -- and the extraordinary things you communicate without being aware of it.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxBeaconStreet, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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If you experience frequent vocal disfluencies or involuntary vocal sound repetition and are interested in learning more about the phenomena, sign up to be included as a potential collaborator in our research on wearable vocal technology.

About the speaker

Rébecca Kleinberger

Rébecca Kleinberger

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Rébecca Kleinberger is a voice expert pursuing research as a PhD candidate in the MIT Media Lab’s Opera of the Future group.

Kenneth N. Stevens | The MIT Press, 1999 | Book

Acoustic Phonetics

Very important bible to understand the vocal apparatus! Must of us have a voice, but how many of us can explain how it works? Because it is so hidden from sight, contrary to arms and leg muscle actions, and also because it requires a living human to study, the complex functioning of the voice box has been a mystery until quite recently in the history of humanity.

Frank H. Guenther | Article

"Neural control of speech movements"

Guenther is THE reference to understand the neural basis of the human voice and voice disorders. It is not really possible to study the neurology of speech on mice which makes all this research even more fascinating.

Max Little | TED, 2012 | Watch

"A test for Parkinson's with a phone call"

I am very grateful to have had the chance to shortly overlap with Max Little at the MIT Media Lab and discovering his work was a key factor in my own research path. The magical potential of his research, and how generously he would explain it to me, were really inspirational. I recommend reading his PhD thesis for more in-depth understanding.

Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti | Behavioural Brain Research, 2014 | Article

"What is that little voice inside my head? Inner speech phenomenology, its role in cognitive performance, and its relation to self-monitoring"

Very inspirational paper on the phenomenology of inner speech from common behavioral to cerebral correlates that also describes different types of inner speech. Also useful to understand better the feedback and feedforward models in speech.

Viktor Mülle and Ulman Lindenberger. | PloS one, 2011 | Article

"Cardiac and respiratory patterns synchronize between persons during choir singing"

Very well written paper on some of the hidden powers of the voice in group dynamics and interpersonal action coordination. Another instance of the fact that the voice is not a passive tool but very active both inside of us and with others.

John F. Houde et al. | Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2002 | Article

"Modulation of the auditory cortex during speech: an MEG study"

When you open your mouth to produce a vocal sound, your own auditory cortex "shuts down." The experiments described in this paper help us understand how the auditory cortex modulates its activity as a function of the expected acoustic feedback.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxBeaconStreet, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

If you experience frequent vocal disfluencies or involuntary vocal sound repetition and are interested in learning more about the phenomena, sign up to be included as a potential collaborator in our research on wearable vocal technology.