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Comment by procinct | Hacker News Reader

It’s very interesting to me that you read without hearing a voice in your head reading each word. I tried to read your comment without requiring the voice in my head but I wasn’t able to do so. Can you elaborate a little more on what reading is like for you with no voice in your head?

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I do not speed read, unlike what the other comment mentions. Your assumption is correct: this is my standard mode of reading. I'm actually not a very fast reader (though I used to be when I was a teenager!), and I like to re-read paragraphs and sometimes even go back a few pages and re-read something I liked. This is also why e-readers, as convenient as they otherwise are, are not my preferred medium when reading novels: they make it uncomfortable to go back and forth. A printed book actually has the best UI for me :)

I can't explain what it feels like to read like this. I don't hear a voice except when my attention is drawn to this, like right now: I'm definitely hearing my voice when I type this, but that's because I'm thinking about it. As soon as I forget this discussion, I'll go back to silent reading mode.

Also keep in mind that right now I'm hearing my own voice, not some narrator's. I'd find it extremely distracting if it was someone else's voice, e.g. if it was a woman's voice if the writer was a woman.

Ah I see! I also only hear my own voice when reading (I think this is the norm). When I'm really absorbed in the book I forget that I'm "hearing" it but I no doubt am actually hearing it so it's interesting to see that isn't the case for everyone :)

Speed reading is basically reading without hearing a voice (subvocalization). I can do it but personally find it more draining and less enjoyable than regular reading. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocalization#Comparison_to_...

That's a really interesting link, thanks for that. The parent comment made it sound as if this was their normal method of reading which is pretty fascinating. I wonder how common it is.

It is indeed my normal method of reading, and I don't speed read.

PS: note that as I mentioned in another comment, now that my attention has been drawn to it, I am indeed "listening" to my thoughts as I type this. Maybe this is going all the time and I simply don't notice it normally. What I definitely do not hear is some kind of narrator voice reading carefully enunciated words to me (as an audiobook would be). That would be distracting to me.

I do this too. In fact, I get very bored when I (sub)vocalise the words. Reading without voice is way less tiring and usually faster. It's like you just absorb the raw concepts, the feelings, the nuances uh.. just like when you read something aloud, but then you eh.. don't do that?

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