this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
68 points (98.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

33314 readers
2423 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 47 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] pocker_machine@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

It seems there is evidence that our larynx moves when we think. So the inner voice is actually ours as well.

[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 7 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

It sounds like how I sound to myself when speaking, but not how I sound listening to a recording of myself.

It also sounds different if I'm reading someone else's words.

[–] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

I sound more confident in my head than when I actually say things out loud, I wish my outer voice was just as confident as my inner voice

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 12 points 16 hours ago

It sounds like how I think I sound, so nothing like what I really sound like in recordings.

[–] TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 5 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Depends who's in. It's nice when Christopher Walken drops by.

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Me, absolutely me. Full on audio, my voice. Not all the time, but a lot of the time.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

It doesn't have a sound, it's just the words themselves.

[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I know this is impossible to describe like explaining vision to a blind person, but how does that work? I can hear mine and can not hear someone if I'm thinking hard enough

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 1 points 2 hours ago

Can you hear music if you focus on it? If so what do singers sound like?

[–] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

It doesn't sound like me, It (usually) sounds like a man, (which I'm not) but it also sounds female sometimes (but also not my vocie) It must have something to do with the fact that I don't like the sound of my voice. The inner monologue also goes back and forth between the languages that I know.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

Same here to some degree. I can make it lower-pitched, and it still feels natural, but not higher-pitched without focusing hard for some reason.

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

It's mine, always has been. Always knew it wasn't god speaking to me.

Unfortunately it's also self-loathing. I've spent years retraining it / myself.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 5 points 17 hours ago

Mine takes on elements of whoever I've been hearing a lot of lately. Had Dexter's voice when I was watching the show. Had Serj Tankien for a bit. It varies.

[–] punk_princess@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 11 hours ago

our head voices are only ever versions of ourself. we're not hearing presidents or celebrities when we think. only when things around us are really bad do we think-talk over each other.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 57 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It sounds like what I think I sound like. Completely different from when I'm taped

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I hate hearing a recording of my voice. It is a lot different compared to how I think I sound.

[–] Rebels_Droppin@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Place your hands in front of your ears (pinky against your temple palms facing ears) while you speak and you can come close to how it sounds on a recording.

[–] Booboofinget@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

I used to work with video production for a while and a lot of voice over artists do that to preview what they sound like.

I think my inner voice sound like I think I sound.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I sometimes have quite a strong accent irl. In my head I don't.

[–] razzazzika@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm trans. Born male, transitioned female. I've always had a female inner monologue. Nothing like what I sound like out loud.

[–] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 54 minutes ago

I'm also a trans woman and I think my inner voice is just genderless it's hard to describe.

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

That's interesting. I'm also transfeminine, and my inner voice sounds like however I think I sound at the moment. Like, it transitioned with me, and also changes when I'm sick.

[–] marron12@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

It usually sounds like me. I can hear it in someone else's voice if I'm thinking about something they said or might say. I can use other voices too, or make one up, but that takes more effort.

There's also one that feels like a ghost of my real voice. That's the fastest one to think in. It's very neutral and colorless (for anyone else who thinks of voices in terms of colors).

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My internal monologue has no sound, it's just raw words. Not text, just the concept of words.

My thoughts can have a voice if I give it one, but not by default. Usually things only have "sound" in my head if I'm playing a song in my head or something.

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

For me no inner voice of any kind. It’s just sort of there. No minds eye either.

If anyone wants to look them up they are called Aphantasia (no pictures in mind) and Anendophasia (no inner voice).

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I have a minds eye and can give my thoughts a voice if I choose, but they aren't there by default. Interestingly though, I am a parent to a child who appears to have aphantasia.

[–] ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago

This is me too. Though I can generate an inner steam of words, those words have no audio qualities and are purely conceptual. They also come "after the fact". I'm thinking of words, rather than words being the medium of my thoughts.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Maybe I’m an idiot, but I can’t figure out what it is people are calling an inner voice. I just have thoughts; they aren’t internal vocalizations and often aren’t comprised of words. I don’t know how to describe them. It’s like a chaotic flow of imagery and sometimes words that forms a whole diorama of moving images and the logic that pairs with them.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Not everyone has an "inner voice". Having one isn't anything particularly notable either. Humans seem to conceptualize there thoughts in a variety of ways and none of them signify your intelligence imo. For me though it is a very literal inner voice. I conceptualize my thoughts using internal words or pictures. I will even speak to myself directly through a sort of dialogue. I think it comes from reading a rediculous amount of books as a kid.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I have both forms. The inner monologue voice is a common learned way of thinking. For me it's a way of testing how things sound, before using it in public. It also formalises ideas for memory.

Below that, I have my mindstream. It's the active amalgamation of ideas, images and concepts that forms my intellect. It's difficult to map to language, since it's not bound by language.

The inner monologue is useful, but not required for intellectual thought. In fact, it can be a detriment. It's hard to process things, when you don't have the language for it. It is, however quite useful for presenting ideas. An inner monologue lets you practice what you will say, and how you will explain things to someone else. I'm autistic, so I often need to preprocess what I am about to say. My inner monologue lets me test if it's "socially inappropriate" (aka batshit insane) before it comes out my mouth.

[–] truite@jlai.lu 4 points 1 day ago

Me and the other me speak and argue a lot, but it has no sound. No voice. Only words. The funny thing is that I'm crazy, as in labelled with schizophrenia and all, and there is absolutely no voice in my head, not even an inner one, not even when I'm reading.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 9 points 1 day ago

My inner voice is literally me talking.

[–] basketugly@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It sounds like a pirate which is me.

[–] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago

I always think it's what I sound like until I hear a recording of myself. My real voice is a little bit deeper, but other than that it's close.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

D.i.d. be like

Sounds the same as my normal voice sounds to me.

My internal monologue adopts whatever voice end accent fits the situation and what I am thinking about. Otherwise it is mostly ethereal and has no sound unless I think about it and give it a "voice."

[–] not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Usually sounds like Jay, from Jay and Silent Bob.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 day ago

Noyge, noyge, noyge.

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It sounds like me, and it's judgy

[–] Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

It's abstract and doesn't sound like anything. I'm not literally hearing anything just like I'm not literally seeing anything either when I'm visualizing things despite my ability to do so.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 1 points 1 day ago

Which voice?

[–] loomy@lemy.lol 1 points 1 day ago

🤷🏽‍♂️

[–] Maiq@lemy.lol 4 points 1 day ago

Sounds like Durnehviir to this one.

sounds like me

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 1 points 1 day ago

whatever I want