# Do you hear a voice in your head when you read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497 "2006-03-22T22:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/41 "2006-03-23T13:50:32Z")
Isn’t it maddening, yet cool, that you can never really _know_ how someone else experiences reading? I don’t hear a voice, and I generally don’t visualize much when I read. When I put it like that, it almost seems like “well gee, why bother reading at all then?” but I _love_ to read. Any pictures I imagine are usually static, like a slide show. I’ve found that I imagine visuals more when I am thinking about a book _after_ I’ve read it, as opposed to during the actual reading. And even though I don’t hear a voice, I can still tell when a particular phrase “sounds” very good. Something especially well-crafted in terms of language still “pings” when I read it, and if I’m very impressed, I’ll go back and give it a voice so I can enjoy that way as well. **Anaamika** , now that you mention that book, I always assumed (I guess, I never really gave it much thought) that the fact that she heard such specific voices was supposed to be part of what was scary … if I personally was just thinking about things like that, it would be in generic non-voices, but if I really heard my mom’s voice, I would be alarmed because it would either be a full-blown hallucination or something supernatural. Now I realize that maybe it’s supposed to be normal, not scary. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/42 "2006-03-23T14:56:50Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Yes, I hear a voice. > > And when I run across a name I can’t pronounce (like in every damned fantasy novel), I have to settle on a pronunciation or I can’t keep reading. Most of the time, I point out the word and ask my husband to gift me with a pronunciation. It really doesn’t matter how it’s pronounced, just so long as I can convince my inner voice to say it a particular way. I’m the opposite. I often read a book, and then go to discuss it with someone, and realize I haven’t the slightest clue how to pronounce the name of one of the characters. I can’t even spell it. I have a vague idea of the shape of the word on the page, and that’s about it. I tend to visualize fairly vividly, though, and if there are significant sound effects, I usually have a pretty strong impression of the noise they make. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/43 "2006-03-23T15:48:46Z")
I always hear an inner voice when I read. Unfortunately, it’s Gilbert Gottfried. Puts me right off reading, some days. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/44 "2006-03-23T15:55:52Z")
Yes, there is a generic voice that “narrates” in my head when I read something - including when I’m reading stuff online like this thread. Most of the time when I’m thinking about something, I “hear” my thoughts in the same voice, but sometimes there’s no voice at all. Even when I’ve met an online person in real life and know what their actual voice sounds like, I usually find myself reading their messages in my normal generic reading voice rather than their actual voice. I rarely visualize things unless the author makes a point of describing it in vivid detail. If the author just makes a passing reference to how the character looks, I usually don’t pay much attention to it. I’m female, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/45 "2006-03-23T16:00:04Z")
I visualize and hear. Kinda like surround sound with 3D. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/46 "2006-03-23T16:25:07Z")
> [@Vision of Love](#): > > Basically when I read, I like the story to play in my mind the way a film would. Me too. I even have panning shots and helicopter shots in my head when I read. I also hear a voice, especially in dialogue and when the story is told in first person. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/47 "2006-03-23T17:00:11Z")
Believe it or not I read a study about this a few years ago. It has to do with the way the brain processes information. Most people translate the written word into sound, and the sound conveys the meaning to their brain. A smaller number of people get the meaning directly from the shape of the word. There is a simple test to see which sort of brain you have: Which pair of words rhyme? 1. enough though 2. said read If you said 1, you process visually. If you said 2, you process aurally. The article I read was talking about how this affects learning foreign languages for adults, but I would imagine that learning to read is much the same. Someone with better google skills than I can probably find out more, maybe even the percentages of people whose brains are wired each way. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/48 "2006-03-23T17:03:31Z")
I rarely hear anything in my head when I’m reading. Sometimes if I’m reading dialogue and a character’s lines conjure up a cadence or an accent or something, I may imagine an actual voice, but even then I’m generally not literally imagining each line spoken in real time, that would slow me down too much. Occasionally, if I’m overtired when I’m trying to read, my brain will torture me by doing exactly that, though: creating a narrator’s voice for everything I read and hence slowing my reading down to a speaking pace. Like an earworm-song that gets stuck in your head, it’s something that once it gets started, lodges persistently there and I can’t make it go away. Time to put the book down and go do something else (sleep, perhaps). Male, btw. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/49 "2006-03-23T17:18:52Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#): > > Which pair of words rhyme? > > 1. enough though > > 2. said read > If you said 1, you process visually. If you said 2, you process aurally. Both rhyme. Set 1 is a sight rhyme. Set 2 is a true rhyme, unless you say “reed” in which case it’s consonance. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/50 "2006-03-23T17:26:49Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Yes, I hear a voice. > > And when I run across a name I can’t pronounce (like in every damned fantasy novel), I have to settle on a pronunciation or I can’t keep reading. Most of the time, I point out the word and ask my husband to gift me with a pronunciation. It really doesn’t matter how it’s pronounced, just so long as I can convince my inner voice to say it a particular way. Anecdotal evidence that it’s a male thing: years ago a friend and I were simul-reading _ **Dune** _. In discussing the book, we realized that we had quite a few differing pronunciations of some names and words. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/51 "2006-03-23T17:41:06Z")
> [@Archergal](#): > > I tend to hear my own voice, as though I was reading it aloud, but MUCH faster. > > I’ve noticed that I tend to do more visualizing when I listen to an audiobook than when I read a book by myself though. Sometimes the difference is striking. If I listen to a book that I’ve read by eye before, I’ll get things out of the audiobook that I didn’t get when I was just reading it. Odd. I notice a difference between reading myself and an audio book. I’m halfway through the audio of The Time Traveler’s Wife and I loved the book before, but I love it even more now. It’s easier to ‘see’ things from both perspectives, especially as they got a male and female to read Henry and Clare rather than just one person. That was one of the books that I ‘heard’ in two different voices, but I’m picking up more with someone else reading. I alternate between visualizing/hearing voices and not, depending on the author or the book. If it’s some book I’m just reading as brain candy I don’t often hear voices (I’m thinking harlequin’s here, I gave them up recently because I got bored of them) but if I need to think about something, like a battle in the Honor Harrington books, I hear voices and visualize more. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/52 "2006-03-23T17:59:53Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#): > > Which pair of words rhyme? > > 1. enough though > > 2. said read Sorry, this doesn’t work. The very fact you mention ‘rhyme’ and the words themselves making no actual sense together was enough for me to change gear automatically to ‘sounding’ the words. I speed read by shape. Therefore there is no ‘voice’ unless, as above, I’m deliberately in low gear. I can happily read words and names I haven’t the faintest idea how to pronounce, simply by the shape of them. In fact this can sometimes be a drawback, when you come to discuss a book with someone else and you realise you haven’t the faintest idea how to say the main character’s name. Worse yet, you have only the slightest idea of how it’s spelt, so you can’t even make a guess at it. All you have is this word shape. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/53 "2006-03-23T18:49:10Z")
What an interesting thread! I never realized that the sounds form in my head. It’s not really my voice, even the stuff I’m typing right now. I have a much more pronounced Texas accent! Heh. It’s a generic voice, but female. Even if a man is speaking. Too weird! I visualize the environment, too, but too much description of it makes me impatient. I like the story to move along. I don’t like it when the setting takes precedence. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/54 "2006-03-23T20:03:23Z")
**Futile Gesture** , that was the “quick and easy” test mentioned in the article I read. I’m sure when the people who study this are in the lab they have something more sophisticated. On the other hand, what if the test were presented as “Look at these two pairs of words: XX, YY. Which set rhymes?” Then the question of rhyme won’t come up until you’ve already seen the words. Does that change the way you read them? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/55 "2006-03-24T03:26:21Z")
I’m a guy. I responded to a similar thread before. I don’t “hear” anything when I read. I read too quickly for that. My normal reading speed is close to most people’s speed-reading speed. If the dialog is interesting or complex enough, I might slow down to almost aural speed, but most of the time I just know what each person said. Certain prose authors almost compel me to consider the sound. Ursula Le Guin comes to mind. If an author puts in too many italics or other keys to how he/she wants it to sound, it sometimes interferes with my reading. The last Mercedes Lackey book I read annoyed me because she _insisted_ on putting italics to indicate _stress_ on what seemed like _every_ other _word_. Both the italics and the occasional clash between where she wanted the stress and where I wanted it made it stand out to me. Poetry is different, though. You have to consider the language on every level. That’s one of the reasons I don’t read much poetry for pleasure. The way to read poetry is significantly different from the way I normally read. I enjoy poetry and savor language sometimes, but I have to be in the right mood for it. I don’t really visualize that much either. I will for certain scenes, especially when the author has described something in detail, but most of the time I just know what’s where and what it looks like. If the book is good enough for me to get into, I’m sort of “in” the scene instead of watching it from the outside. I may not visualize that much, but I do have a mental picture of most characters. Movies, drawings, and other visual interpretations of books are sometimes jarring when my mental image doesn’t match. I have trouble remembering character’s names sometimes because I don’t really read the name. After a few concepts have been attached, the name is more of a key for the character than a name as such. On the other hand, I do have to slow down and attach a pronunciation to an unfamiliar name, even though I don’t really use it after that. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/56 "2006-03-24T05:16:55Z")
I’m female. I don’t visualize a whole lot–I think maybe I’m usually going too fast, but it might also be that I read a lot of non-fiction. I tend towards a few images, which might not even be whole. Mostly I do not hear voices, but sometimes I do, especially with certain writing styles. I’ll be reading along and will realize that I’m ‘hearing’ the words in my dad’s voice, or whatever (one or two of my favorite books remind me of how he talks, so I hear them in his voice, for example). ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/57 "2006-03-24T05:51:49Z")
I definitely hear a voice in my head when I read. It pisses me off when I read pieces that are poorly written, because it doesn’t fit into the natural rhythm of English that’s ingrained into my head. -foxy ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/58 "2006-03-24T05:54:38Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > I visualize the environment extensively, but I only have a vague idea about the look of the characters. This is exactly what I do. I will hear the dialogue but that’s about it. I’ve discovered an odd thing though, when I read graphic novels I don’t have to visualize because the visuals are right there in front of me, obviously. But I also hear a voice reading the story and it’s awfully distracting to run across a word in **BOLD** , because my inner voice insists on putting so much **EMPHASIS** on that **BOLD WORD**. Case in point: The Walking Dead. Great story (zombies!) but every other word seems to be **BOLDED** and my imaginary reader inside my brain will practically yell those at me. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/59 "2006-03-24T08:46:00Z")
I do if I’ve seen a movie of it!! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497/60 "2006-03-24T11:21:59Z")
Not at first, at least I don’t realise its there if I do (I’m male BTW) Its almost annoying, just reading this thread I’ve suddenly heard the voice in my head :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-a-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read/349497.md?page=4)