Dare to ask: people who are deaf, how does your inner voice sound?

Sometimes you come across questions that you honestly never thought about, but that immediately pique your interest. That was the case for me when I came across the following question on Reddit: “People who are born deaf. How’s your inner voice sound, or do you just speak sign language in your head?”

Of course, I immediately thought about how my own inner voice actually sounds, and I think it just sounds like my own voice. But then how you think your voice sounds, because I get startled every time I hear my voice back. And then I spontaneously feel sorry for the people who have to listen to my chatter, because I really don’t think my voice sounds pleasant. Funny: this is very logical and common, and it happens because our voice leaves our mouth in two ways. Internally and externally, and that internal one disappears when you hear yourself back. You suddenly hear a different sound that you don’t recognize, and that feels strange and odd and not like yourself.

But what about when you can’t hear at all? That external one is of course not there, but do you then have an internal voice and if so, how does it sound? On Reddit this question was asked and with over 2.2K responses it might still be hard to imagine, but at least we get a better picture of it.

A selection of the answers:
“My mom is profoundly deaf and I asked her this same question (totally not a stupid question!) She said she thinks in ASL. I have caught her signing to herself just like I sometimes talk to myself.”

“Before I got surgery for my cochlear implant/before learning ASL, I don’t exactly recall knowing about any “mental functionalities” like using a thinking voice. Most of my mental uses were re-imagining images in visual thoughts (if I wanted a hotdog, I’d visualize a hotdog). Besides that, my dreams were like silent films (and 95% still often are silent even after my surgery to help me hear).”

“For the first 5 years of my life I was technically Deaf, I couldn’t hear anything.

I remember thinking by closing my eyes and imagining the thing I wanted to think. So I would close my eyes and see my own imaginary world.

I can still do it but only in complete silence. It’s a trait I will forever hold but I’m not mad at it. It can be very helpful in some situations!”

“A deafie here – naturally we can’t even describe what it sounds like as we don’t really understand sound in the way you do. Maybe the basics like deep and high pitches but the difference between notes or octaves are something only understood through theory (i.e. reading about them).

We don’t understand what makes a singer good but we for sure know how to tell if it’s a good beat (provided it’s loud enough to feel).

As such, speaking for myself here – my inner voice is more literally like thinking. A mixture of instinctual understanding and the words that describe the meaning I want to express.

I am a writer so words are quite colorful to me. They convey a myriad of imagination. I also am a philosopher so I admire and observe closely the metaphysics at play here.

Words can occasionally come out in English as it is best expressed through English. Some come out as sign language as there are sayings that only make sense in sign language. It’s a blend of both as well as the raw emotional output that form my thoughts.

Also, there is the silence in between the thoughts. Depends on how much you pay attention I suppose.”

“Not deaf, but my brother is. I remember when we were in our teens on a family vacation and I caught him signing to himself when he was bored. The first time I saw it I thought he was telling me something but I noticed he wasn’t making eye contact and it made no sense, that is when I realized he was thinking to himself. After that, my family and I wouldn’t watch when we noticed him doing it since we figured it wasn’t fair to know what he was thinking at times when the same couldn’t be said for him.”