Having the ability to disguise your voice is a useful technique if you want to learn how to be stealthy and keep your identity safe; especially in a society where cold calling and scams are rife. If you’re an adult, you will have most likely been subject to one of these calls, which often suggests that you’ve been involved in an accident and are either liable to pay money or receive money. Although sometimes legitimate, they are usually scams, where they will try their best to fish for your personal information. One way of mitigating this risk is by disguising your voice, and there are a variety of different ways to do it. Here’s how:
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Use A Voice Modifier
One of the most common methods of disguising your voice is through using a voice modifier. Trolls and gamers on the internet are known to use these modifiers to mask their own voice so that their true identity is kept a secret, and you can do the same. They are usually free to download and offer a real-time modification, which can be used during gaming or phone calls/Skype calls. These voice modifiers can be used to make you sound deeper/higher or even make you sound like your the opposite sex.
Practice Different Accents
If you’re like this guy, there’s no doubt that you’ll be able to disguise your voice without the other person knowing, but realistically, having the ability to speak in a variety of different accents is incredibly difficult. If you’re going to imitate another accent, be sure to listen to the converse of somebody speaking that particular accent, and then try and repeat simple sentences until you think you sound pretty similar. You can also record yourself, or ask your friends or partner whether or not they think you sound legitimate.
Speak Another Language
If you’re bilingual or have mediocre skills in another language, why not put it to use and trick the caller? When you answer your phone from an unrecognized number, make sure to let them speak first and then gauge whether or not it is a scam. If the call seems untrustworthy, be sure to start speaking another language. To their surprise, they will most likely end the call unless of course, they speak the same language! (But that would be very unlucky!)
Use Voice Changer Apps
There are a variety of different apps that you can use on your smartphone to disguise your voice, and they are usually free. Apps such as Robovox ($2.99), allow the user to select a voice filter (from a large choice) where you can then record your voice and send it onto others. You could also argue that Snapchat offers a free voice changer as well. If you hold your finger on the camera screen, Snapchat will display a variety of different filters that will change your appearance, and also modify your voice when recording.
Altering Your Pitch
One simple way of disguising your voice is by altering the pitch of your voice. It’s very simple to do and you need no practice to do it. It’s something we do subconsciously all of the time when singing our favorite songs. You can either make the pitch of your voice deeper or alternatively higher to throw somebody off. If needs be, try singing and alter the pitch of your voice, then try and continuously speak at the same pitch and see if you can hold a conversation with your partner or friends.
Speak In Gibberish
It may sound stupid, but one way of disguising your voice is simply by speaking gibberish. Yes, it’s a little rude, but if somebody is phoning you with the intention of scamming you, boo-hoo to them! Be sure to speak with random made-up words which will make you sound like you’re speaking a completely different language.
Fake Having a Cold /Pinch Your Nose
If you’ve ever thrown a sick day and had to call your boss, you will have most likely had to fake having a cold to sound believable. So why not use this technique to disguise your voice? When you’re full of a cold your sinuses are blocked, which makes you sound slightly different to normal. The ‘ill’ voice is quite easy to imitate and it can either be done through practice or by pinching your nose.
Use Helium
As a child, or maybe even as an adult, you will have most likely sucked on a helium balloon. It may have resulted in you having a headache or feeling a little wheezy, but you will have inevitably noticed that it makes your voice incredibly high pitched. It’s hilarious and it makes your voice sound completely different to normal. Inhaling helium would disguise your voice without a doubt, just try not to laugh or you may give yourself away!
Be careful if you decide to use helium to disguise your voice. A study by slate.com found that a 10-year-old in New Jersey had collapsed at a birthday party after inhaling the substance. Make sure to limit the amount of helium your taking into your body to avoid the risk of danger.
Muffle Your Voice (Cover Mouth Or Phone)
You can disguise your voice quite simply by covering your mouth or phone with something such as a paper towel. Just this little piece of material will make a huge difference to the sound heard on the other end of the phone due to the fact that sound waves are being blocked.
Use Of Background Noise
If you’ve even been on the phone to somebody and have heard somebody in the background, you know just how frustrating it is. You can barely hear the person you’re speaking to meaning that you usually have to repeat yourself over and over until they hear you. If you’re wanting to disguise your voice, make sure to use the background noise around you to mask your own. It could be anything from the TV, radio, or your partner speaking loudly in the background.
Whisper
Whispering is another great way of disguising your voice. From a scientific point of view, when you whisper, your larynx vocal folds are stretched out to the extreme meaning that they don’t vibrate. This vibration is usually what creates the diverse range of frequencies that your normal voice usually offers. This means that whispering changes the frequencies of pitch for your voice meaning that it’s very different from when you normally talk.
Mimic Your Friend’s
If you have friends with distinctive voices or accents, why not try and imitate theirs? You are likely to spend a lot of your spare time with them, meaning that it would be easy for you to copy their voices/accents.
