Have you ever heard a recording of yourself talking? You may have noticed that you sound higher-pitched, lacking the grit and gravitas of your booming internal echo when you hear yourself inside your head. In developing our bone conduction headphones, we tapped into the reasons for that sensation.
Fans of AfterShokz bone conduction headphones know that there are two methods of hearing (bone conduction and air conduction), and you employ both when you speak, but only one (air conduction) when you hear a recording of yourself. When talking, your voice vibrates in your bones and reaches the cochlea that way, emphasizing the bass tones in your speech.
This critical difference calls to attention a more interesting conversation, that sound is relative. We all have different ears and therefore hear things differently. Just as we see differently (my red may be the same color as your purple), sounds may be dramatically different from person to person as well. Plus, the delivery system, air conduction vs. bone conduction, skews the perception even further.
We can talk about sound with each other the same way because we all follow the same rules (i.e. bass is always low and treble is always high), but the essential components may be different. Our sensitivity to sound varies, as well. According to this Scientific American article, certain people are born with an inherent sensitivity to bone conduction, which causes their breathing to be overwhelmingly loud and, sometimes, causes them to hear their own eyeballs moving.
You can take advantage of these differences, and hear your music and the world simultaneously with the best bone conduction headphones for the job.
So far no one has heard their hair growing, that we know of, but why not? Consider the relativity of sound next time someone disagrees with you about music, and accept that different opinions are OK. Maybe even give them a lesson on the bone conduction technology behind AfterShokz.
Unless they’re telling you they don’t like Prince, in which case the person is simply wrong.
What does your recorded voice sound like to you? Is it foreign? Tell us about the experience on Facebook and Twitter or right in the comment box below, and keep reading the AfterShokz blog for more interesting science updates.
