Ideas for a word to use to describe your voice output over the phone, video chat, etc.? [closed]

If you use a phone, video chat, etc. your voice kind of changes so that it's muffled, but when I hear "muffled" or "muffled by" I tend to associate it with something like the voices you make when gagged or smothered by a pillow (sorry for the dark example, but that's what comes to mind). Does anyone have any other words they think might work? I've thought of using "filtered" or "filtered by," but they seem more like something you would use to describe your voice if you used a voice modifier.

Solution 1:

I would think that to best describe the way a voice is affected by electronic audio outputs requires a more nuanced awareness of the particular audible effect the device in question has. For example, there are a variety of different sounds: static sounds, buzzing, whining sounds, an electronic hiss, white noise, high frequency sounds, low frequency sounds, etc. There are also several different words that can be used to describe what happens to sounds in certain instances: deaden, dull, dampen, mute, soften, quieten, hush, silence, still, tone down, mask, stifle, subdue. Any of these can be used to describe what happens to a speakers voice when processed through an electronic device, but the particular one you choose to select will ultimately be based upon context and the desired tone you're looking to express.

If you want to be really general, you could use the word "distorted". For example, "The phone was old and distorted her voice."