# Do you hear words in your head when you read? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333 "2010-05-13T18:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![breaking-reality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/21 "2010-05-13T21:17:42Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Every time. Until this thread it never once occurred to me that other people don’t. I can’t skip over words I can’t pronounce, even names. I have to stop and work it out or else I’ll trip on it next time I see it. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often. I have to look up words I can’t pronounce, too. I often sound things out aloud to help with that, but I don’t actually hear the words read out in my head. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/22 "2010-05-13T21:22:20Z")
I usually hear words and read relatively slowly - faster than the average person but slower than most serious readers. I can also read very quickly without hearing the words and just try to absorb the information, but I don’t comprehend and retain it as well as when I take it slow. Oddly enough, though, you’d think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you’d speak, or you’d hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it’s like someone talking very fast. I’m not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/23 "2010-05-13T21:22:56Z")
I hear words when I read for fun, but I can also read very fast, in which case I don’t hear the individual words, but I hear something faintly. Male, 26. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/24 "2010-05-13T21:32:49Z")
If I’ve just been listening to an audiobook, which is pretty frequent, I’ll hear the words read out by the audiobook’s narrator. At other times, not really. (Male) ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/25 "2010-05-13T21:45:47Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Yup. I actually ‘see’ the book in my mind like a movie, but I hear the voices. Same here. If the book has been previously encarnated as a movie, I “read” the book in their voices, and “see” the characters from the movie. My head is a busy place. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/26 "2010-05-13T21:51:38Z")
I thought there were two kinds of people, those who “see” what they read like a movie, and those who “hear” what they read like there’s someone telling the story. Now there are people who do neither?! I’m so confused… I hear the stories 99.8% of the time. the other .2% of the time I can actually understand what people mean when they say they see the scenes in their heads. I don’t see the majority of stories I write, either, so it’s always a shock when someone tells me _they_ can see a story of mine that way. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/27 "2010-05-13T22:09:04Z")
Hear words while you read? I think I’d go nuts. Speaking words is slow. Reading is fast. In other words, nope, I don’t hear words while I read, and I read pretty fast. I know this is true because I’m constantly coming across words I know that I can’t pronounce. I can spell them, I know what they mean, but I butcher them when I say them because I never associated the written word with the spoken one. Luckily, my husband thinks it’s cute that I mispronounce so many words. I’ve been horribly embarrassed in work situations before because I mispronounced a word repeatedly and badly, enough that someone finally corrected me. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/28 "2010-05-13T22:11:43Z")
I voted “no” but I already knew that most people do, in fact, hear the words as they read them. I’ve had this conversation with friends before. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/29 "2010-05-13T22:17:39Z")
Both for me. Reading here is very much like listening to a conversation. But when I read a good novel I am transported into a film. And there’s little about conscious process involved. It’s more like a trance state and I go far, far away into the book! Same with when I play the piano. When it’s time to turn the page I momentarily become aware of myself and surroundings. ---
**Author:** ![Creole\_Tomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Creole\_Tomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creole_Tomato)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/30 "2010-05-13T22:19:11Z")
I don’t really hear the words of narrative text, or nonfiction, but I definitely hear the dialogue. What drives me nuts is badly written dialogue, because it doesn’t feel like “listening” to an actual conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/31 "2010-05-13T22:22:30Z")
I only hear them if I think about it too much, if I’m having trouble understanding a passage, or when I first start reading. After that, if I’m immersed at all (and if the words aren’t spoken dialogue, or poetry, or something like that), then no I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/32 "2010-05-13T22:28:19Z")
All the time. I am a \*very \*fast reader if the content isn’t too terribly challenging, so I don’t necessarily ‘hear’ every single word individually, but there is definitely a dialogue going on in my brain the entire time. The voice is usually mine, but sometimes it will be the character that is speaking/narrating (if the book in question is written well enough for me to immerse myself that deeply). I do the same thing when I am writing, in which case it’s almost always my own voice. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/33 "2010-05-13T22:43:33Z")
Not all of them, but I hear dialogue in my head in my conception of what the character would sound like. ETA: Sometimes I hear non-dialogue too, like snow crunching under boots. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/34 "2010-05-13T22:45:01Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I thought there were two kinds of people, those who “see” what they read like a movie, \ Ah, that’s how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don’t exactly hear the words, but something more…gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too. - Female. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/35 "2010-05-13T22:46:40Z")
I do and it annoys me sometimes. I can be happily reading, engrossed in what the characters are doing and suddenly think to myself “Hey, I’m making up the sound of their voices myself”. It makes it strangely self conscious to read that way. By the time I got to “It makes it…” I had already started to do so, and its my own bloody voice! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/36 "2010-05-13T22:48:20Z")
I try not to hear any words when I read, but sometimes they creep in when I’m reminded of them (like in this thread). I just think pronouncing the words in your head as you read them slows you down. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/37 "2010-05-13T22:50:48Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I usually hear words and read relatively slowly - faster than the average person but slower than most serious readers. I can also read very quickly without hearing the words and just try to absorb the information, but I don’t comprehend and retain it as well as when I take it slow. > > Oddly enough, though, you’d think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you’d speak, or you’d hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it’s like someone talking very fast. I’m not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way? I read aloud often, professionally, and that might be part of the reason I am more prone to hear what I’m reading. I’ve also done some radio voice work, and my ear is acutely tuned to accents and inflections. I can read really really fast if I want to, like the disclaimers at the end of commercials that fly by unintelligibly. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/38 "2010-05-13T22:52:29Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Ah, that’s how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don’t exactly hear the words, but something more…gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too. > > - Female. _Gestalt._ That’s a good word for it. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/39 "2010-05-13T23:32:14Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Ah, that’s how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don’t exactly hear the words, but something more…gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too. Even knowing that many people are like you, I still can’t quite grasp how that works. Aren’t descriptions of people and scenery frustrating? You picture a person, then learn they’re dirty blonde, then fat, then have one leg, and a hump on their back. Or it’s a forest, but it’s night time, and the trees are all burned up, and there’s a dead body over there… it sounds very tiring, trying to mentally picture everything in the story that way when by its very nature writing gives you the picture one piece at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333/40 "2010-05-13T23:37:33Z")
Female here, quick and avid reader. I sort-of-hear the words. Enough so that, on the odd occasion I hear someone SAY a word I’ve only ever seen written down, chances are good I made up my own pronunciation and I have to visualize what they are saying before I think ‘OH!! So THAT’S how you pronounce ‘awry’!!’ A mental face-palm generally follows. Oh, and I’ve been known to completely disregard the actual description of a character in favor of what I _know_ they look like. I’ve gone several books into series before really SEEING what the words are saying regarding that person’s looks, and I am genuinely surprised. There is no way Thomas Raith has dark hair. He is white-blonde. 'cause I say so. Sorry, Jim! I also know EXACTLY what Harry Dresden’s apartment looks like, and I am sure it is not as Mr. Butcher really sees it. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-words-in-your-head-when-you-read/539333.md?page=3)