Is my Canadian accent that pronounced?

[Nightowl77]

This may sound a bit insecure, but I'm wondering what you all think of my Canadian accent. I feel as though it's a bit stronger than normal (in comparison to my peers) and I'm trying to tone it down. What do you all think honestly?

https://soundcloud.com/forevernuts

(the paragraph I'm reading was developed by a linguist meant to diagnose a Canadian accent)

 

[Tdol]

Who's your target audience? To be honest, as a British speaker I am not sure that I could spot a Canadian accent- I can guess what the differences are meant to be from the sounds used, but they didn't stand out as that different to my ears.

 

[Nightowl77]

My target audience was Americans and other Canadians. I am constantly told my accent, or better yet Canadian raising, is "stronger" than the norm.

 

[konungursvia]

It's the same as a standard Chicago accent, except that we pronounce the vowel /au/ as very closed before non voiced consonants, as in house, shout, and about.