Why does your voice sound like your voice? Per Mike, there are myriad reasons. Myriad! Things like your larynx, the size of your noggin, and … dispersive mediums? Before you go running to Wikipedia, just know that sucking on a helium balloon or talking underwater are examples of the dispersive medium through which your voice is heard. This also leads to the first Reasonably Sound special guest, as musician Jason Oberholtzer is Mike’s willing pawn in an experiment to make Jason’s actual voice sound like what it sounds like in Jason’s head. This, in turn, leads to the first Reasonably Sound Contest, which you can read about at Reasonably Sound’s Instagram.
ALSO MENTIONED: I never knew about sulfur hexafluoride until I listened to this, and now I desperately want to buy a tank to carry around with me. Does it come in tanks? I guess what I’m asking is will anyone who is reading this give me some sulfur hexafluoride so I can sound like Prince at the beginning of the album version of “1999” that I can’t link to because Prince hates YouTube? Thank you.
—Stu
PD Episode Image: “Image from page 58 of “A manual of diseases of the nose and throat” (1908)” – http://bit.ly/2Ed8vjB