Does your accent change whilst on the phone?

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Mine does, and I hear that this is actually fairly common. It is not a conscience thing, but rather just an automatic shift that I don't even realise that I'm doing until someone points it out to me. My voice comes across as more neutral and clear on the phone, sometimes slipping into received pronunciation (especially regarding vowel sounds which are flatter/softer than how I pronounce them in face-to-face conversation).

There are three main types of received pronunciation; 1) The kind associated with aristocracy, 2) Standard, neutral, and traditional received pronunciation devoid of any vocal clues as to the age, location, or character of the speaker, however it does suggest certain social classes and levels of education, and 3) Contemporary RP, which is similar to standard but more common among younger RP speakers.

Received pronunciation is typically taught to people who learn English as a second language. Often it is associated with the South of England, however it can be found all over the UK. Personally, in face-to-face conversation I have a mixture of a North West Midlands accent, and a North East Midlands one. In other words, it's very North Midlands.

People often complement me on how I sound on the phone, and are surprised at how different I sound. (Not that there's anything wrong with my normal voice).

Sometimes my parents have a hard time telling my sister and I apart on the phone, but I pronounce my vowels in a flatter more neutral way, and my sentences structures are a tad different to my sister, so they can usually pick up on the fact that it is me talking without having to ask. My dad told me that's how he can tell, anyway.

I have to wonder if the speech therapy that I went through when I was younger influenced this at all, it would make sense if this is the case. Personally, I don't remember the speech therapy that I went to, but I do know that I went to three separate speech therapists during that time, and it is likely that they taught me to speak in a more neutral, clear fashion.

The sessions certainly helped anyway, these days I only mess up on occasion. Especially when speaking fast, I have a habit of saying "dispibible" when attempting to say "despicable", that's why when I approach words which I find more difficult than others, I tend to slow my speech down to carefully say certain words, and then I return to a normal speed (or just avoid them all together and use a different word, it depends). It isn't too noticeable, but if you have a discerning ear then you might notice the slight change.

Another one is "specific", spoken in a fast manner it can come across as "sper-vivic" but I've actually got quite good a pronouncing those two, and sometimes I don't even need to slow down and think about it too much. I just remember "sper-acific", and "desp-ic-a-ble".

I never noticed my accent changing & noone has ever mentioned it to me but about the only people I talk to on the phone are my parents & my girlfriend occasionally when we're not near each other but we text alot more than talk on the phone.

That's interesting.

As far as I know, I don't change my accent, but I'm American, so there's not as much diversity there.

I'm American but I remember that my voice sounded like I had an English, or perhaps German, accent when I was younger. German was my first language, but English took over as my primary language when I was six. I also notice I sound much younger than my real age.