# Voices in my head (when I read) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 24, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025 "2001-11-24T15:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@Malice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malice)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/1 "2001-11-24T15:36:33Z")
Just wondering how common this experience is: You’re reading at a fairly fast clip, paragraphs just whizzing by, then you start to “hear” the words being spoken aloud in your head. Now that you’re aware of the sounds of the words, the process of reading bogs down. Gets downright sluggish. And the more you try to make the mental pronunciation knock it off, the harder it is to return to your zen-like, non-mentally-verbalized reading pace… Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/2 "2001-11-24T15:46:03Z")
Hmmmmmm…I _always_ “hear” the words when I read. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/3 "2001-11-24T16:36:11Z")
What \*\* Myrnalene \*\* said. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bibliophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophile)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/4 "2001-11-24T16:40:18Z")
i always “hear the words” too, but what i wonder is the voice in my head reading the words sound the way my speaking voice sounds to other people or is it an entirely different voice? ---
**Author:** ![Lectricity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9d8465/32.png) [@Lectricity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lectricity)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/5 "2001-11-24T19:10:45Z")
It’s not a problem unless others can hear the words when you read. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/6 "2001-11-24T19:47:27Z")
I hear 'em. Same voice I think with. Years ago I read (and heard) that there is some low level activity in the musculature used for speaking when people read. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/7 "2001-11-24T20:04:49Z")
**Malice** , to answer the question and to tell you you aren’t completely alone, I have the same deal. My normal reading doesn’t have a voice accompany it. When I do for some reason start hearing the voice reading, it’s much slower. My normal thought doesn’t have a voice either, except when I’m trying to figure out what to say. ---
**Author:** ![ferrisgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e5b9ba/32.png) [@ferrisgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ferrisgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/8 "2001-11-24T22:22:07Z")
i’m with **the nerd**. i read very quickly when i let my eyeballs be the voice, but when i start saying the words out loud inside my head, i read at about half the pace. ---
**Author:** ![ozonebaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ozonebaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozonebaby)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/9 "2001-11-24T22:47:10Z")
Amateurs. . .I hear voices in my head all the time. But, so I can relate to the thread subject, I hear one when I read too. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/10 "2001-11-25T00:43:11Z")
i hear many voices when i read. girl voices for girls boy voices for boys. different tones for different people. narr. voice for the bits that are not dialog. it doesn’t slow down my reading speed. i just talk strangely for a bit after reading a british book. ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/11 "2001-11-25T02:27:49Z")
I’m hearing voices in my head right now as I read the thread… (Myrnalene seems to have a motherlyish “yes-but-only-ONE-more-cookie” voice… odd… :D) ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/12 "2001-11-25T08:33:14Z")
I don’t just hear all of the characters as different voices, I generally see the whole movie (if the author is any good.) Similarly, when watching “Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon” with sub-titles, after a few minutes, I stopped ‘reading’ the subtitles, and started ‘hearing’ them in the actors’ voice. To the OP, if I stop to think about what I am reading, I typically lose the internal theatre troup. ``` _________________ Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits. ``` ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/13 "2001-11-25T09:25:58Z")
Yep, I often hear voices in my head when I read, particularly when I’m reading fiction (which I actually don’t do that much of). I’m currently reading Simon Schama’s History of Britian, and I hear his very distinct voice when I’m immersed in the book. It amuses me greatly. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/14 "2001-11-25T10:19:40Z")
What I “hear” when I read tends to be a mix of Brit-Aussie-Kiwi accent. It isn’t my own voice – maybe, it’s a throwback to all those hours as a kiddie listening to storytime at school and at home. Except for **Cougarfang’s** posts – I dunno _what_ I hear then – but it’s fun! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/15 "2001-11-25T11:22:23Z")
I usually hear celebrity voices when I hear voices when I read (which isn’t always) Sometimes I will actively change who my narrator is, and the rest of that book will be in that person’s voice. (mmmm… Patrick Stewart! Read that line again!) ---
**Author:** ![DMAAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@DMAAN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMAAN)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/16 "2001-11-25T14:16:50Z")
When I read a good story I get so immersed in it that the whole thing is happening in my head. I hear the characters speak as well as see them interact. When I see the words it’s usualy because I don’t like the story or something in the writing style jarred me back to reading words. I get very anoyed at those times. I was jarred out of a story once for a funny reason. I read mostly sf and fantasy but not tie-in books.(star wars, trek etc…) My mother found in a garage sale a complete set of OS trek books and bought them for me. Since I had them I decided WTF I may as well read them. Half way through the third book I stopped reading because I had suddenly realized that I was clearly hearing Scotty speak in his voice. I was an eerie feeling. d ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/17 "2001-11-25T14:25:03Z")
I’m with Rhubarb on the movie thing, for fiction anyway. For other stuff, manuals, SDMB, whatever, it’s usually sort of a neutral voice kind of like my own. ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/18 "2001-11-25T18:55:31Z")
as an inverse, i sometimes see words when i hear peoples’ voices, or hear people speaking on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Leifsmama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@Leifsmama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leifsmama)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/19 "2001-11-25T19:04:43Z")
I read very slowly, almost learning disabled slowly, and I ALWAYS hear my voice in my head when I read. I can’t even imagine reading without a voice to go with it. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025/20 "2001-11-25T20:41:18Z")
For me, it’s absolutely essential - unimaginable, really, _not_ to hear a voice. The weird thing is that it’s impossible to describe. I guess it’s a male voice, but it’s not really mine, and it’s certainly not that of a celebrity. I remember noticing it when I was pretty young, perhaps third grade. I recall reading (NYT Science page?) that CAT scans of most people reveal stimulation in the auditory regions of the brain when they read. IIRC, this response is absent in people with certain forms of learning disorders. (I’d be curious to see results for the posters who report only hearing a voice when they read slowly!) Saepiroth, I too sometimes see text when I hear someone speaking. It’s a little jarring, so I usually force myself out of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voices-in-my-head-when-i-read/95025.md?page=2)