Talking through a problem in my head is the most natural way to solve it for me. I've always wondered if that counts as hearing voices. Especially because sometimes it's hard to shut off at night when I need to go to sleep.
On the contrary, when you hear voices, they are like an intrusion. You do not perceive them as yourself, nor as your own thoughts, but as if someone else stepped into your head and said something that you were not contemplating, in a voice that sounds nothing like your own.
A lot of people experience this phenomena when they are just on the verge of falling asleep. Now imagine that same thing happening when you are wide awake.
I don't experience it before falling asleep, and rarely at all anymore. My daughter says hearing voices happens to her somewhat regularly on the verge of sleep.
I am interested to try the "imagine a talking head as you are going to sleep" that someone else mentioned.
I think this kind of conversation is fascinating. Personally think that neuroscientists exploring these phenomena and "edge cases" will help improve our understanding of intelligence, the mind, and brain function.
In my reading of Buddhist writings, the non-stop, live-streaming audio track is common enough (arguably universal) that this is addressed in those writings. So, no, I don’t think it counts if we all have it. :-)
As far as going to sleep, meditation helps. Zen-style Buddhist meditation addresses “the voice” specifically: be apathetic to it, not trying to block or ignore it, just be with it. Of course the whole of Zen thought can’t be described in a sentence. Contact your local zendo for more information. :-) Personally, when I’ve been a “good” Zen student for a period of time, “the voice” can go away on occasion, usually during meditation. Now that is...different.
A common example might be "keeps you up at night" — which can happen to people from time to time, but the moment it starts damaging your relationships and ability to live comfortably it becomes something that might be a part of a clinical diagnosis (simply "hearing voices" isn't a problem on its own without other factors).
If the public could learn one thing about psychology I think it should probably be that there's never "just one thing" when it comes to identifying problems. A single compulsion doesn't mean you have OCD, for example.
typically bad voice: "this feels bad, maybe god will notice you if you start setting things on fire"
I recently realized that listening to a "boring" podcast or youtube videos while trying to fall asleep will shut down all those voices and thoughts.
It can't have a narrative arc that makes you want to hear the end, so mostly it's witty but aimless conversations, and newscasts type programs.
In my dreams, other people talk without me controlling what they say, so obviously they have their own internal voice independent of mine, yet they all live in my mind. (People I know tend to act like I'd expect them to act. They're the embodiement of my perception of them in real life, but autonomous.) I've always found that strange that people could live in my head during dreaming.
What's more, I sometimes dream of people doing creative things or creating stories. Yet those things obviously come from my own brain. I can't figure out how my brain does it. It's smarter than my conscious self.