<p>This phenomenon is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_Auditory_Feedback">delayed auditory feedback</a>. <em>Why</em> is still an open question, but two theories are:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/60/3/213/">Servomotor hypothesis</a>: delayed auditory feedback creates an error signal, which the motor systems uses to attempt to correct the motor output.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2231590/">Distruptive rhythm hypothesis</a>: Speech is too fast for error correcting feedback (<em>i.e.</em> speech is feedforward), delayed auditory feedback disrupts the rhythm of motor output.</p></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-16T22:50:40.453Z
Your first link describes a device or method, not a memory phenomenon. In fact no mention of the forgetting phenomenon described in the OP appears there on Wikipedia. To some extent, the same goes for your other two links: they seem to pertain more to stuttering than to forgetting, which doesn't seem to be at the root of stuttering so much as a false sense that one has made an error in speech. Did I miss some link between memory and that false sense of error in your latter links? Or might you be reinterpreting the OP? The OP seems happy anyway; might forgetting not really be important here?
Nick Stauner
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2014-01-16T23:06:06.073Z
Nick, concerning memory, you're right, I was reinterpreting. DAF makes speech very difficult, and is highly distracting. I was assuming the OP was referring to this effect, and not a memory phenominon.
Kyler Brown
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-16T19:02:41.437Z
2014-01-16T19:02:41.437Z
Kyler Brown
<p>If you've ever heard an echo of yourself on phone or video chat, you've probably noticed the phenomenon that you completely forget what you were talking about when you hear yourself talking.</p>

<p><strong>Have there been any studies that explain <em>why</em> this happens?</strong></p>

<p>I think there was an XKCD comic about it but I can't find it right now.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-16T22:43:52.117Z
FWIW, I've heard echoes of myself on the phone, but when this has happened, I've never forgotten what I was talking about at all. I've also listened to recordings of myself, and read my own writing, but I only forget the content of what I've said or written at a relatively normal rate. In fact, I forget less than if the words are not my own, such as when I read or listen to someone else's writing or recording two separate times with an intermediate delay. This semi-opposite phenomenon is one of the reasons I think it's useful to have others proofread my writing! Off-topic at all?
Nick Stauner
<neuroscience><brain>
What is it about our brain that breaks when we hear ourselves with a delay?
Wayne Werner
# What is it about our brain that breaks when we hear ourselves with a delay?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-16)

If you've ever heard an echo of yourself on phone or video chat, you've probably noticed the phenomenon that you completely forget what you were talking about when you hear yourself talking.

**Have there been any studies that explain *why* this happens?**

I think there was an XKCD comic about it but I can't find it right now.

**Tags:** neuroscience, brain

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: FWIW, I've heard echoes of myself on the phone, but when this has happened, I've never forgotten what I was talking about at all. I've also listened to recordings of myself, and read my own writing, but I only forget the content of what I've said or written at a relatively normal rate. In fact, I forget less than if the words are not my own, such as when I read or listen to someone else's writing or recording two separate times with an intermediate delay. This semi-opposite phenomenon is one of the reasons I think it's useful to have others proofread my writing! Off-topic at all?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-01-16. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

This phenomenon is called [delayed auditory feedback](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_Auditory_Feedback). *Why* is still an open question, but two theories are:

* [Servomotor hypothesis](http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/60/3/213/): delayed auditory feedback creates an error signal, which the motor systems uses to attempt to correct the motor output.
* [Distruptive rhythm hypothesis](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2231590/): Speech is too fast for error correcting feedback (*i.e.* speech is feedforward), delayed auditory feedback disrupts the rhythm of motor output.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Your first link describes a device or method, not a memory phenomenon. In fact no mention of the forgetting phenomenon described in the OP appears there on Wikipedia. To some extent, the same goes for your other two links: they seem to pertain more to stuttering than to forgetting, which doesn't seem to be at the root of stuttering so much as a false sense that one has made an error in speech. Did I miss some link between memory and that false sense of error in your latter links? Or might you be reinterpreting the OP? The OP seems happy anyway; might forgetting not really be important here?  
> **username_2**: Nick, concerning memory, you're right, I was reinterpreting. DAF makes speech very difficult, and is highly distracting. I was assuming the OP was referring to this effect, and not a memory phenominon.  

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