Do you hear a voice in your head when you read?

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Thanks for sharing that. It's the same phenomenon as the article I posted earlier in the thread. Basically, it's for reading comprehension, because after we learn to read by age 8 or so we should be able to sight read and that's when the inner voice (subvocalization) comes in. Dyslexics never do (without intervention) learn to sight read words.

What I'm finding odd is that the poll on your thread is showing the opposite of most of these posts. I always assumed that most people on the spectrum thought in pictures, so I figured they'd read in them, too.

Pretty much this, too. I am pretty sure I have dyscalculia (math dyslexia) and if I read something that requires numbers or math I will actually find myself vocalizing out loud sometimes. Like, a phone number or filling out a check. I have no images for the numbers and they tend to fall out of my head almost as soon as they go there, so I have to exert extra effort to keep them there by vocalizing them.

Wow, this topic is so fascinating to me! But I am still having a little bit of trouble imagining what it is like to read without an inner voice. For those who have said that they do not always have an inner voice when they read, perhaps you could help me out with this. Say for example that you read this word:

APPLE

You really don't hear the word "apple" inside your head? You are able to see an apple/understand the concept of apple without actually hearing the word? This is so neat! No wonder I can't read more than 10 pages at a time without getting exhausted.

Sometimes, if I am reading very rapidly, my inner voice even gets tripped up and starts stumbling over word pronunciation, just like what would happen if I was trying to speak too fast. I will actually get a strange sensation in my tongue muscles, like I am trying to "talk" too fast, even though I am not physically speaking. So I can never read faster than I would be able to speak.

Neat stuff.

You should have that voice when you read or you wouldn't understand what you read.

Every one has it, except if you are missing that part or it is dysfunctional.

Sources: My old biology teacher

I'm not sure. I probably do, but once I'm absorbed in reading, I don't notice any voices anymore.

When you see a picture of an apple, do you say "apple" in your head?

Sometimes, when I go to say a word, I have to think of how it looks written in order to pronounce it. Names for example (and I often mispronounce them for months because there is such a difference from the spelling).

Saying that you have to hear a word in order to understand its meaning when written is like saying you have to imagine a word written in order to understand its meaning when spoken...

i do have a voice in my head when i am reading. on the forums, different users have slightly different voices in my mind once they become familiar to me. i suppose that is why i am surprised when i hear what people actually sound like.

I see an apple.

The image that appears is very concrete (but it's the image of a card with a drawn picture of an apple, so it's not the most realistic apple), but it also neatly leads to the concept of apple/I know it represents it.

I can make my inner voice say apple, but then I just hear the sounds that make up apple and only think of the meaning of apple after that.

I wonder if I could read words like that and think of the meaning spontaneously without getting my mind to work.

But visuals... it does get more complicated with imagery to such words as "without" or "together". I think I think of colours with these and there's a sensation, because without is like dragging away and together feels both nice and pushy.

"Sunny" is just that, sunny translates into an image though just as much into a sensation, "tv programs" are most definitely an image.

"Beautiful" and "handsome" are words that have a relation, but one is an image and the other is blur/colour for me. Actions translate into images, from what I can tell. Some of the things I visualise are abstract/associative.

Other are just pretty... odd associations from things I've seen that merely represent an aspect or something I experienced and connected strongly to the word. Feels a lot as if my mind tries to fill in holes (too abstract for an immediate visual representation) with anything that might be related. Especially with words such as "ADHD" or "autism". I get a sensation from them, but I don't know how much that is related to this topic anyway. What doesn't translate into a visual or is incomplete makes me feel it.

Ahh, it just occurred to me that "forum" creates something similar to "together". That's probably why I think forums are difficult.

"Hungry" I have no idea of the image right now, but I feel hungry now. I guess it evokes the memory of a sensation and I realise I'm very opposed to how it makes my stomach feel now. Urgh.

Actually when I see a picture of an apple I see the picture of an apple in my head...
When I read I see pictures and hear a voice at the same time.

That's kinda what I was saying about reading too fast.

I tried reading your post without hearing the words in my head, and it's impossible. Totally 100% impossible. I see words, and I then immediately say them to myself. Then I use that sound to determine the meaning of the sentence (using my imagination to display pictures of what is happening).

This is really kinda surprising to me, because I think primarily in pictures.

Maybe I can explain this a little bit better. When I see the symbols that make up the word "APPLE," I immediately recognize the symbols as the sound of "apple" spoken in my own voice. I then hear myself say that, and a picture of an apple pops into my mind. All of this happens on a subconscious level.

There is a voice, but most of the time it's inaudible. I'm aware that it's there, and if I slow my reading down there may be a few ghostly whispers of speech I "hear," but most of the time I'm reading too fast for audible speech, and it's just kind of a tickle.

I wasn't sure how to explain it, but Fatal-Noogie does a pretty good job at saying what I wanted to say as well.

I am not hearing a voice per se, but I read along with the words and it is my own inner voice that reads along with it. I am still explaining it poorly. I like his description more!

Anyway, I am also visual, so I simultaneously translate everything into pictures as well.

I have neither dyslexia or ADHD.

Thanks for the responses!

SammichEater, it sounds like you and I have very similar ways of thinking. I think that we need that "auditory" input in order to translate a word on a page into a picture in the back of our minds. You described yourself as someone who thinks in pictures, so it makes sense that your brain would take this extra step needed to translate the words into pictures. When I am simply looking at a picture, or looking around a room, I don't need to use any type of inner voice to tell myself what the items are that I am looking at (ex: if an apple is sitting on my desk, I would not have to say "apple" to myself to know what it was). But if I see a written word, I HAVE to say the word to myself (like you were saying, it is 100% impossible not to say the word), and then I see the picture.

I hear a voice in my head when I read.

When I read, I translate the words into pictures, and if I recall what I read, I do not remember the words but what I visualized when I read them. I always thought this was somewhat odd/interesting, but I never realized anyone might think differently before the past year.

This creates some dissonance when a book I've read and strongly visualized is translated to film.

But while I'm reading I do not subvocalize and I hear the words.

Yeah, I tried to get rid of it but I was never consistant enough. I never used to but, at least in the US, they basically TEACH you to do that. It DOES slow down reading though.