24 Sep 2024

Shower Thoughts: Why voices in older recordings sound so different to voices today?

From Nights, 9:15 pm on 24 September 2024

Have you ever had a burning question in the back of your mind that you just can't find the answer for, when suddenly, the noise in your brain clears and, in its place, appears the perfect thought.

That's a Shower Thought, and here on Nights we're aiming to answer those unshakeable questions lurking in the back of your mind.

Tonight's question: Why voices in older recordings sound so different to voices today, is it just the technology or did people speak differently one hundred or even fifty years ago?

Professor Catherine Watson from the University of Auckland's Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering is an expert both speech science and speech technology and joins Emile Donovan to help us answer this aural query.

Ruby Maud Basham, known as Aunt Daisy

Ruby Maud Basham, known as Aunt Daisy Photo: Supplied / Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision