Nov 25 2008
∞
sounds in the mind: voices in my head
Whenever I read an article from anywhere, or read anything, I hear a certain voice in my mind, but.. I don’t think its my voice. At least they don’t sound the same. (But is that partially where the commonly used phrase “That’s not what it sounded like in my head” comes from? And is that also the same thing as people always being surprised as to how their voices sound?) I don’t really know. Is everyone like that? I feel like there’s a chance I may be different: I feel like one reason I am such a slow reader is that I cannot just look at text and understand it, I have to say it in my head, that voice says it, in order for me to comprehend it. I feel like this is a form of translation. At least, at times I look at it this way. I also feel sort of isolated by this. Am I amongst a minority who do this, or does everyone do it?
When I take my time to read, I hear a voice that’s either how I remember that talking, an amalgalm my head generates based on that character (Holden Caulfield’s got a specific voice) or, in the event that there’s no discernible character to the piece, I hear my own but deeper and cleaner.
When I read fast, the words jnust seem to float for a momennt in my head as I move onto the next one.
