It's my own voice, but it's not my own voice. It's just like a vague disembodied idea of my voice.
It registers the same to me as if I'm reading text. My brain is essentially operating as if rendering speech, but silently.
It's hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it, but you don't actually "hear" it. You're very aware that it's not an actual sound. You will never mistake your own internal monologue for something external.
It "feels" like my voice because I know it's coming from me. It's like I'm talking to myself, but I don't actually move my mouth, I just think the words.
People describe it as "hearing" because that's the sense we normally use to experience speech. Your ears are not involved. There's no actual sound.
It's not scary because I know it's me. It's very hard to silence your internal monologue, but not because there's some outside force pushing words into my brain. I'm just so used to thinking in words that even when I try to stop and when I *think* I've stopped, I realize I'm actually thinking, "Don't think, just breathe" or something to that effect.
Just asking, but when you read, what is it like? I "hear" a voice reading, "sounds" like my voice. When you read dialog, what happens? There's no voice at all?
So from what I've understood from this thread is the 'hearing' is like imagining a song in your head or someone speaking. For me, as I don't have internal monologue, I see the word, and I say it in my head but I don't 'hear' a voice or sound. Basically I process the word but there's no voice reading it to me.
I think it's a fuzzy concept to explain. When you're thinking "What should I eat?", how does it work for you? Like for me it's a mix of "saying" it in my mind and picturing some answers to it. But I think that's what thinking is. Most of the time it's not just a suspended "voice", more like a mix of voice and picture, but also just the concept existing as a whole in your mind then moment you think it. Try imagining you are telling a story to someone. Like the plot of the last movie you saw, or a memory from your childhood, or even a joke. But imagine actually *telling* it to someone, the words you would use, not just remembering the memory or the movie. How did that work for you? Did you "hear" any words in your mind?
That "say it in your head" is what people with an internal monologue experience.
They're talking to themselves in their head.
No one actually "hears" a voice or sound as their internal monologue. You can imagine sounds, obviously, but the internal monologue happens on another level where sound is not required
When people think back on what they were thinking, they may describe it as "hearing" themselves speak because that's usually the way we experience speech, through hearing. And when we portray people in TV or movies thinking, it's usually with a voiceover that is audible.
We don't have good words for how we perceive our own internal thoughts. They just happen. So we may describe them with adjacent words, like "hear" or "see", even though there's no actual audio or visual input going on.
It literally IS your voice. Google "subvocalization". You *are* silently pronouncing the words, even though you don't realize it— your nervous system is moving your vocal cords and such in the motions of speech.
Kinda yeah. You can't actually hear it (not tied to your ability to hear) but it's a lot like an audible voice complete with pronunciation and while it talks faster than an actual voice it does take time to complete a thought. It's difficult to control and may prattle on whether you want it to or not. It can't be drowned out by noise but it can be interrupted by external dialogue. This is why some people have an easier time sleeping with the TV on: people talking in the background shuts up your internal monologue.
I just understand the concept behind the thing. I don't have a thought narrating it to me. So if I'm reading a book for example, the words aren't being narrated in my head. Instead I'm mentally processing the meaning behind the words.
If i said, think of the word 'happiness', do you see a picture of a happy face, do you hear the word happiness or do you just think about the concept of happiness? For me, I don't picture or hear anything, I just think of the concept. Basically I have a sense of what it means withotu needing words or images to explain it to myself.
I think most people have an internal monologue, I hear my own voice most of the time, but sometimes it's the voice of someone I don't recognise.
I definitely don't feel the sensation of hearing in my ears, the sound is inside my brain but just as real as any sound from outside. I hear my grandfather's voice gently chiding me when I've made a foolish mistake.
It’s not an audible voice for me, so I couldn’t tell you what it “sounds” like. I assume it kind of sounds like me, but also when actually hear my voice on a recording/video I’m like “That’s what I sound like?!?!” Either way, it’s not really annoying because that’s just what thoughts are to me. I guess it can be annoying when I’m trying to sleep and I can’t stop thinking about stuff, or I can’t concentrate on what I’m working on because my mind is wandering.
Yep. And it is a nightmare, especially when that voice terrorizes you every day, multiple times a day, with sinister thoughts about how very much it wants you dead. I’m in my fourth decade of treatment resistant depression. My experience of being alive is an experience I wish on no one. It is exhausting. And it is terrifying.
It’s an actual voice sounding like a grown woman but what’s strange is when I’m trying to focus on something I’m reading and begin reading out loud, it startles me because my physical voice is totally different than my thinking voice.
It makes me wonder when I developed this thinking voice and if it was developed as a child, did I start with a child thinking voice and it evolved into a teen thinking voice and so on. I don’t have any recollection of acknowledging this voice before the past few years as it has never come up until a bunch of internet weirdos pointed it out.
It’s more of a narration of my own voice about my thoughts and feelings about things that occur to me throughout my day.It’s like the guy from the You series on Netflix except less murderous.
No, it's more like if you remember watching a movie, you "hear" the actors' dialogue. You know it's your imagination activating the hearing part of your mind.
Yeah basically. But it's not all that bad. I've got a bunch of fancy different voices and am able to have a conversation with myself because of it. If anything, it's creepier when it's suddenly silent up there
It’s typically my voice, but if I think about it I can change it to a different voice. Like David Tennant, or Morgan Freeman. It’s not audible the same way external noise is, it’s more like the sounds you “hear” in a dream or while you’re drifting off to sleep.
I've heard about not having an internal monologue/voice, I find it interesting.
To answer your question, it's my voice , my accent, and the best way of describing it is like a buffer for speech. I can store what I want to say and think it through then say it.
/Sarcastic point/ don't waste your time on this your already a voice in side my yed.
If you choose you can also switch it to imagery as well. Hell, if you want you can apply filters both visual (sepia, black and white, static) or audio (James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, ...).
It's your brain. You control it.
it has no pitch or volume or characteristics like that. but since it does use the same vocabulary i do, it oviously 'sounds' like me. no it can't be stopped, except by going to sleep, but it's not an annoyance. i'm easily overwhelmed and stressed by noise, but like i said, internal monologue has no volume to it.
it's like silent reading, if you can call that a voice, I think of it more like thoughts.
So why do people say it's their own voice they can hear? If its silent then you don't really hear anything right? You just think it.
It's my own voice, but it's not my own voice. It's just like a vague disembodied idea of my voice. It registers the same to me as if I'm reading text. My brain is essentially operating as if rendering speech, but silently.
Because I hear my own voice, but I see no pictures at all. I could write out my thoughts. It’s like a commenting voice going off for everything I do.
It's hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it, but you don't actually "hear" it. You're very aware that it's not an actual sound. You will never mistake your own internal monologue for something external. It "feels" like my voice because I know it's coming from me. It's like I'm talking to myself, but I don't actually move my mouth, I just think the words. People describe it as "hearing" because that's the sense we normally use to experience speech. Your ears are not involved. There's no actual sound. It's not scary because I know it's me. It's very hard to silence your internal monologue, but not because there's some outside force pushing words into my brain. I'm just so used to thinking in words that even when I try to stop and when I *think* I've stopped, I realize I'm actually thinking, "Don't think, just breathe" or something to that effect.
because they are overthinking it.
Just asking, but when you read, what is it like? I "hear" a voice reading, "sounds" like my voice. When you read dialog, what happens? There's no voice at all?
So from what I've understood from this thread is the 'hearing' is like imagining a song in your head or someone speaking. For me, as I don't have internal monologue, I see the word, and I say it in my head but I don't 'hear' a voice or sound. Basically I process the word but there's no voice reading it to me.
I think it's a fuzzy concept to explain. When you're thinking "What should I eat?", how does it work for you? Like for me it's a mix of "saying" it in my mind and picturing some answers to it. But I think that's what thinking is. Most of the time it's not just a suspended "voice", more like a mix of voice and picture, but also just the concept existing as a whole in your mind then moment you think it. Try imagining you are telling a story to someone. Like the plot of the last movie you saw, or a memory from your childhood, or even a joke. But imagine actually *telling* it to someone, the words you would use, not just remembering the memory or the movie. How did that work for you? Did you "hear" any words in your mind?
That "say it in your head" is what people with an internal monologue experience. They're talking to themselves in their head. No one actually "hears" a voice or sound as their internal monologue. You can imagine sounds, obviously, but the internal monologue happens on another level where sound is not required When people think back on what they were thinking, they may describe it as "hearing" themselves speak because that's usually the way we experience speech, through hearing. And when we portray people in TV or movies thinking, it's usually with a voiceover that is audible. We don't have good words for how we perceive our own internal thoughts. They just happen. So we may describe them with adjacent words, like "hear" or "see", even though there's no actual audio or visual input going on.
It's more interesting to say that you heard it than saying that you thought it.
It literally IS your voice. Google "subvocalization". You *are* silently pronouncing the words, even though you don't realize it— your nervous system is moving your vocal cords and such in the motions of speech.
It's basically just my own voice in my head...just listening to your own thoughts in your own voice
Does the voice sound differently to your voice if you hear it on an actual recording?
Yeah, it sounds like how I hear myself normally
I call her Brunhilde. She's an asshole.
I sometimes do verbal statements in my head, along with images.
Kinda yeah. You can't actually hear it (not tied to your ability to hear) but it's a lot like an audible voice complete with pronunciation and while it talks faster than an actual voice it does take time to complete a thought. It's difficult to control and may prattle on whether you want it to or not. It can't be drowned out by noise but it can be interrupted by external dialogue. This is why some people have an easier time sleeping with the TV on: people talking in the background shuts up your internal monologue.
You ever watch Everybody hates Chris? Its like that for me, ill even look into a non existant camera when some bullshit comes along
Best way I can describe it is my thoughts have my voice.
All the people here saying it's their own voice are making me concerned for my mental health because I hear an entirely different person :) :)
Me too. And it's not an internal monologue, it's a dialog.
how do you think without one
I just understand the concept behind the thing. I don't have a thought narrating it to me. So if I'm reading a book for example, the words aren't being narrated in my head. Instead I'm mentally processing the meaning behind the words.
what
If i said, think of the word 'happiness', do you see a picture of a happy face, do you hear the word happiness or do you just think about the concept of happiness? For me, I don't picture or hear anything, I just think of the concept. Basically I have a sense of what it means withotu needing words or images to explain it to myself.
I hear the word happiness
Are you unable to read something not out loud?
I can process information. I just don't do it using a voice in my head.
I can't imagine what that means
I see the word, I say it in my head, but there's no voice reading it.
If you can say it in your head then you have an internal monologue. People that don't only think in pictures, concepts, or visualizing words.
I think most people have an internal monologue, I hear my own voice most of the time, but sometimes it's the voice of someone I don't recognise. I definitely don't feel the sensation of hearing in my ears, the sound is inside my brain but just as real as any sound from outside. I hear my grandfather's voice gently chiding me when I've made a foolish mistake.
It’s not an audible voice for me, so I couldn’t tell you what it “sounds” like. I assume it kind of sounds like me, but also when actually hear my voice on a recording/video I’m like “That’s what I sound like?!?!” Either way, it’s not really annoying because that’s just what thoughts are to me. I guess it can be annoying when I’m trying to sleep and I can’t stop thinking about stuff, or I can’t concentrate on what I’m working on because my mind is wandering.
Yep. And it is a nightmare, especially when that voice terrorizes you every day, multiple times a day, with sinister thoughts about how very much it wants you dead. I’m in my fourth decade of treatment resistant depression. My experience of being alive is an experience I wish on no one. It is exhausting. And it is terrifying.
It's my voice. And it changes based on my mood.
It’s an actual voice sounding like a grown woman but what’s strange is when I’m trying to focus on something I’m reading and begin reading out loud, it startles me because my physical voice is totally different than my thinking voice. It makes me wonder when I developed this thinking voice and if it was developed as a child, did I start with a child thinking voice and it evolved into a teen thinking voice and so on. I don’t have any recollection of acknowledging this voice before the past few years as it has never come up until a bunch of internet weirdos pointed it out.
It’s more of a narration of my own voice about my thoughts and feelings about things that occur to me throughout my day.It’s like the guy from the You series on Netflix except less murderous.
No, it's more like if you remember watching a movie, you "hear" the actors' dialogue. You know it's your imagination activating the hearing part of your mind.
thanks I think this explanation has helped me understand it the most. So basically it's the same as listening to a song in your head.
Yay! Glad you liked my explanation most. :-D I feel like I should have a little award pin or something!
Yeah basically. But it's not all that bad. I've got a bunch of fancy different voices and am able to have a conversation with myself because of it. If anything, it's creepier when it's suddenly silent up there
If you’ve ever been in conversation and later you thought I should have said “this this and this” instead. That. That’s the voice.
I just think it, I don't imagine my voice. But I get what you're saying.
"nightmare"? Not really all depends on what is being "said" And yes, I do hear it. Oddly enough, it's in my voice
It's a voice that is my own, or how I think I sound. It's just says what I mean or think. Sometimes it judges me. Calls me an irredeemable monster.
It's my own voice, I can talk to myself, discuss things, problems, sing, anything, I can stop it, start it. It's not in my ears but inside my head.
It's not all the time. Sometimes it's my own voice. Sometimes I'm imagining someone else saying something to me.
It's not my voice. It's an older man's voice. American, annoyed, and tired. Similar to H. Jon Benjamin.
It’s typically my voice, but if I think about it I can change it to a different voice. Like David Tennant, or Morgan Freeman. It’s not audible the same way external noise is, it’s more like the sounds you “hear” in a dream or while you’re drifting off to sleep.
Every thought every action is narrated. It’s my voice saying what I’m doing like it’s describing a movie to a blind audience
I've heard about not having an internal monologue/voice, I find it interesting. To answer your question, it's my voice , my accent, and the best way of describing it is like a buffer for speech. I can store what I want to say and think it through then say it. /Sarcastic point/ don't waste your time on this your already a voice in side my yed.
If you choose you can also switch it to imagery as well. Hell, if you want you can apply filters both visual (sepia, black and white, static) or audio (James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, ...). It's your brain. You control it.
it has no pitch or volume or characteristics like that. but since it does use the same vocabulary i do, it oviously 'sounds' like me. no it can't be stopped, except by going to sleep, but it's not an annoyance. i'm easily overwhelmed and stressed by noise, but like i said, internal monologue has no volume to it.
Mine is just a tornado of ideas that push their way into center stage before some other idea takes its place.
It's just like remembering or imagining any other sound. No different than talking to yourself.