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Hearing Words in Your Head

Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 8:57 AM Category: Books, Language, Writing 5 comments

In talking about speed reading, Scott H. Young mentions a word I hadn’t come across: Subvocalization. He defines it: “Subvocalization is saying the words inside your head as you read them.” I’ve done this almost my entire life and didn’t know there was a word for it. Hearing words in my head is a natural habit and I never thought about whether others do it.

Actually, I did once. A reporter interviewed me when I was in high school. We talked about speech and hearing. I mentioned that even with my hearing aids turned off, I still “hear sounds” in my head when someone talks or when I read or write. Maybe I thought this was a “deaf” thing — just never seriously thought about it until I read Young’s post.

Now that I think about it — not sure it’s a deaf thing because not all deaf people wear hearing aids. I wonder if those who don’t wearing hearing aids have their own sounds they hear in their heads — it might be different than what we know.

It’s that same habit that helps me as a writer. As I write this, I’m hearing these words in my head. It works almost as well as saying the words out loud. Rarely do I find something doesn’t work out loud when it worked in my head.

When I read, I hear the book’s words in my head. Young says that if a person wants to read faster, it means to stop subvocalizing. Oh boy. This was HARD to do and when I did it, I felt like I was staring at the book’s pages and couldn’t absorb the words. I’m not sure I want to turn this into a habit considering it plays a large part in my job as a writer.

What are your experiences — if any — with subvocalization?

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5 comments

Posted by Dawn Goldberg on March 30th, 2007, 2:56 PM
I don’t hear words, I see them written as letters. So, I don’t hear the word “house” spoken; I think of it as h-o-u-s-e.

I think that’s weird.

Dawn
Posted by Richard Arthur Steffan on March 31st, 2007, 10:42 AM
I had always believed that to stop subvocalization would mean to stop comprehension….
Posted by Mandy on June 2nd, 2009, 12:09 PM
I am sooo glad someone has addressed this issue! I thought I was crazy! Noone in my family or associates “hear” the words in their head. I am a hearing person and always have been. I began to wonder about this because I was unsure how deaf individuals can read if they don’t know what the word is supposed to sound like. That is when I learned that most people don’t actually “hear” the words. I am an average-speed reader, but my comprehension has always been outstanding.
Posted by Jeff Hurt / @JeffHurt on August 30th, 2009, 1:53 PM
I’ve always heard voices in my head when I read. And when I read other people’s writings, I’ve found I give them a different voice in my head than the one I use for my own writing. H-m-m, I wonder if that means something?

When I read a novel, I find I give the characters voices and change them as I read. I also hear the sounds in my head the writer describes.

I wonder if that’s why I hear high pitched voices for tweets in Twitter? Just kidding. I don’t do that, chirp, chirp. Really, I don’t.
Jeff Hurt’s blog …Why Do You Tweet?
Posted by Meryl / @merylkevans on August 31st, 2009, 7:18 AM
@Dawn, not weird — interesting.

@Richard, that’s what happens when I stop hearing words in my head. But I guess it’s a habit you have to develop.

@Mandy, looks like lots of people do it. In fact, I am “hearing” these words I type.

@Jeff, chirp chirp chirrrrp.