A Question

[awanderingbard]

Yesterday was Family Day here in Ontario, and my brother and his wife took my parents and I out for dinner, during which we had a discussion about reading, and now I need to know something:

When you read, do you hear a voice in your head reading the words to you?

My SIL and I do, my mum, dad, and brother don't.

Now, my brother and mum both have varying degrees of aphantasia as well (inability to picture things in their mind). Not sure about my dad, but my SIL can picture things in her mind, so I don't know if that's related.

I did Google this, and found out it's something called 'subvocalization', and for people who do hear the voice, their larynxes actually make micro movements like they're speaking, though not producing any actual sound. If you can turn off the voice, you can also apparently read faster, which I believe, since my mum sails through books. I couldn't find out if it's 'normal' to hear the voice or not, though, or if it's just typical human variation, so I'm curious about other people's experiences.

I'm also curious to know if you don't hear a voice, how does the information get into your head? Like, how are the words getting to your brain if you aren't...putting them here with your head voice? My brother just shrugged when I asked, and my mum's description was essentially she sort of absorbs vibes of emotion from the character situations or something.

Anyway, if you feel like sharing with the class, let me know, because I am very intrigued.

Comments

[donutsweeper]

It never occurred to me that people could read without hearing a voice being reading the words out? How do people who don't hear the words read then?

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I hear the books in my head most of the time. If I skim or read really fast, then I can't. Sometimes, when I know the author's voice (especially for student papers and the work of friends and colleagues), I can hear it in their voice.

I honestly don't know how I process the info when I'm not hearing that voice. It's different—in part because it's just info, without much regard for tone, style, beauty, or anything like that. If I skim, though, I just want the info. So I don't read literature that way.

I also constantly narrate things in my head. I think those things go together. this Psychology Today article says only 30–50% have an inner monologue, while only 10% report they never have an inner voice. IFL Science reports 82.5% of readers hear the words they read.

[awanderingbard]

That's very interesting!I did read that one of the ways to speed up your reading is to learn how to stop subvocalizing, so it makes sense that you don't hear the voice when you're going fast.

I can't imagine not having a voice in my head. My voice never shuts up and if i am not doing at least two things at once, it will drive me insane. My mum says she doesn't have that voice and it's just mind-boggling to me that you could sit and not have your brain running full tilt at every minute of the day. I suspect I'm neurodivergent in some way and I read that with females, hyperactivity tends to manifest as racing thoughts rather than physical movement, so perhaps that's something to do with it.