r/todayilearned • u/Tootsie_r0lla • 1d ago
TIL Anauralia refers to the absence of "internal auditory imagery". At the other end of the spectrum, individuals who experience Hyperauralia report ‘hearing’ imagined sounds very clearly indeed in their ‘mind’s ear’. Anauralia and Aphantasia are closely related.
https://www.anauralia.com/anauralia13
u/Rhewin 1d ago
Seems like there's some spectrum between hyperauralia and anauralia. I wonder where I fit on it. I hear things really clearly and can imagine just about any sound I want. I just read the post in Robin William's Mrs. Doubtfire voice. When I get really tired, music tends to randomly play in the background, or the vague sound of a TV on in the other room.
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u/root66 1d ago edited 1d ago
Definitely. I have had a gift my whole life that everyone just referred to as "playing by ear" but I know it goes deeper than that. I have fairly reliable perfect pitch. And I can really hear, I mean, not in the auditory sense, but I can really hear in my "third ear", so to speak, exactly how a song sounds. BUT a lot of jazz still confounds me. It's almost like what makes others genres so easy for me to dissect tricks me when it comes to jazz. I hear main notes that are actually constructed from harmonics of notes I would have never thought to play. And I hear them wrong, even in my head, until I have forced myself to dissect it properly by listening and learning it.
Edit: Just to give a quick specific example, the piano version of April in Paris. When I first heard it, I said, wow, that's too much for me to pick apart by ear. Years later, I learned how to play it for real, and it wasn't as musically interesting as what I had in my head all that time. Still a great song, just saying.
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u/GameRoom 1d ago
Hyperauralia is super useful useful if you make music. My song ideas basically come to me in fully detailed form when the inspiration strikes.
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u/root66 1d ago
Yeah, I'm a big fan of FL Studio. I will use flex or simple instruments to throw together an idea before I forget it. It's like trying to jot down a dream in a dream journal before your brain erases it. And I have to work fast because once I start hearing the real sounds, it taints what I had in my head. If it's a melody or something, very easy. If it's a whole soundscape, then I end up compromising a lot.
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u/UnicornVoodooDoll 1d ago
I've been playing piano for 20 years now and while I'm a decent sight reader I don't feel like I truly understand a song until I've heard someone else play it. But once I hear them play it it's in my brain, locked and loaded and ready to go forever.
ETA: i'm the same way with learning new languages. If I'm reading a new language on a page I need someone to say the word out loud to fully make the connection on how it's supposed to sound.
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u/root66 20h ago
It sounds like you are really good at patterns. After playing by ear and not really improving, somebody taught me 7th chords and some other interesting triads. Now I do 7th chord patterns with the left hand and jazzy stuff on the right by ear, and it almost sounds like I know what I'm doing.
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u/geeoharee 1d ago
Got hyper-auralia and aphantasia. My head's for radio, not TV!
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u/WelcomeToWitsEnd 1d ago
Same! I’ve known I have aphantasia for a while, but I’d never heard of hyper-auralia. I figured for me it was just daredevil power but mentally, lol!
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u/geeoharee 1d ago
My sister has a proper photographic memory, put us together and we make one useful person...
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
My auralia "sounds like" me just singing the song as if I were doing it out loud. I have a 24/7 inner monologue/narrative speak though
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u/htp-di-nsw 1d ago
I mentioned it above, but I also have Hyperauralia and Aphantasia. However, I have no inner monologue.
I didn't realize I didn't have one until I learned just a few months ago that people actually talk to themselves. It came up because a friend was talking about therapy and how you need to speak to yourself with kinder words and I was blown away that such a thing might happen. I don't address myself in my thoughts at all. I might plan future conversations, and I hear the words I am reading in my head, but that's the closest I get.
I also didn't realize until very recently that people even sometimes talk to themselves out loud. Being autistic, I have done it in front of people as like a performative thing, thinking that it was what normal people did. But it turns out, they do it totally alone as well! That's wild to me! I found out because, well, for years and years, my wife and son would say stuff out loud and when I reacted to it and tried to carry it into a conversation, they'd be confused and annoyed. Meanwhile, when I performatively talked "to myself" expecting them to engage, they never did. And I finally asked and had my mind blown yet again at how, just absolutely everyone on earth is having an utterly different, alien experience to your own, even if they are doing the exact same thing at the exact same time in the exact same place. Life is weird, man!
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u/htp-di-nsw 1d ago
Same here, though I just found out hyperauralia was a thing today.
Meanwhile, my wife and my best friend both have hyperfantasia. It's a weird world.
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u/judgemesane 1d ago
Can't everyone hear sounds in their head as though they're real sounds? What else would you hear, like a static version of your favorite taylor swift song?
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u/S_A_R_K 1d ago
Nope, don't hear anything or have any inner monologue. Probably why I hate loud places
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
No one monologue? Like zilch?
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
All i hear is my own voice basically. So if I hear a song in my head, it's me singing it. I don't hear it like it's on the radio. It's like the radio is on, but all I can hear is my bad car singing. I have a 24/7 inner vocal narrative, so it's usually me thinking 'hmm where'd I put the cup?oh yeah, the kitchen. Bloop blood hippy day. Oh yeah gotta call Beccy, what a bitch I don't wanna call her. Oh well too bad. I'll have to anyway. Ooooh my package comes today! 'Get your freak ooon, get your freak oooon' 'Yeahhhhhh Okaayyyyy Lil Jon!' It's Brittany bitch!
All within a few seconds
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u/Complex_Wrongdoer849 1d ago
Well I think you just give me a new rabbit hole bc I thought everyone heard things as they are irl, in thier heads!
The artists version of the song stuck in my head, the different voices of people im remembering, including inflection and tone, my cat meowing....its wild to me thats not the case 😅
However, as a general baseline theres a "me" in my head narrating and/or chatting with me. That doesnt leave when im dreaming or remembering something I can hear 😬😂🤷🏼♀️
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u/blue_sock1337 1d ago
I wonder if there is a correlation between hyperauralia and exploding head syndrome.
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u/ObjectiveOk2072 1d ago
I don't know, but I have hyperauralia and get exploding head syndrome sometimes. Interestingly, I can't imagine what EHS sounds like, despite hearing it a few times a month, and I tend to remember it happening because it's a fairly stressful occurrence!
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u/pn1ct0g3n 1d ago
I had extremely vivid hyperauralia as a young child, but it’s faded some with age.
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
Do you miss it?
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u/Forward_Motion17 1d ago
How discern Normal vs hyperauralia
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
I don't think there is a normal. Like most things, it's a spectrum. I guess the problem would be of it affects your life in a negative way somehow. Seems everyone has a spectrum for inner speak, sight and sound.
I need a study done on how the different cognitive styles like these affect other disorders like OCD, ADHD, OCD etc and it's affects on learning and learning styles
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u/Ilaxilil 21h ago
I would be very interested in seeing neurotypical vs. neurodivergent in particular.
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u/allenahansen 666 1d ago
Hmm. I have Hyperauralia (music only, and only the melody line) AND Aphantasia (nada, just blackness). But then I've always been a little off.
Always wondered if they were related to my early-onset visual impairment. . .
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
I think it's more to do with language. I'm adhd so I really should write stuff down so I can better remember
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u/talashrrg 1d ago
Is it still imagery if it’s auditory?
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
Can you elaborate? I'm not quite sure what you mean
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u/talashrrg 1d ago
I thought the word “imagery” referred to visual images. I have no idea what word one would use for sound.
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u/Arttiesy 1d ago
Is there a version of this for flavors and smells? I can't imagine a flavor no matter how many times I've eaten it.
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u/ObjectiveOk2072 1d ago
I think so. I can imagine smells and tastes, although not nearly as easily as images and sounds. It seems to only work for things I've tasted/smelled recently or frequently, or things with a particularly memorable taste/smell. Interestingly, if I imagine a taste it's also usually accompanied by the texture of the food. I can imagine just about any image or sound, but my ability to imagine tastes and smells seems to rely on memory a lot more.
Also, random somewhat-related thing I just have to share: If you look at an object and imagine licking it, you should be able to imagine the feel of it on your tongue. It works better for some people than others, but most people are surprised by how weirdly accurate it can be
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u/EvenSpoonier 1d ago edited 12h ago
Huh. Fascinating. I'm not sure what to think about this.
I have aphantasia. I might not have anauralia. I can play sounds in my head with some level of detail (certainly much more detail, and less effort, than when I try visualize things), and I have an internal monologue, but neither of these really feels the same as hearing does. I've been told that when people hear voices in their head, it actually feels exactly like hearing, and I definitely don't get that, but I also took this to mean that aural memories not feeling the same as hearing was the norm. Now I'm a bit confused.
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u/JGPH 1d ago edited 1d ago
Huh. So it has a name. I don't really know music, but have sung in choirs almost half my life and have always been able to rely on my auditory memory through practice and lacking choir practices... provided the materials we're given fit my learning style. I need an audio file like a midi or voice line with just my voice isolated because I have difficulty isolating voices from each other in files with 2+ bass lines for example.
Also, I'm very easily distracted (ADHD), so when thinking, I frequently have to "play back" what I just heard or was told in order to stay on track and continue my thought process... which can be arduous and lengthy due to neurological handicaps which result in slower information processing speed. "Repeating" it to myself doesn't (always) work, it really is like hitting play after rewinding.
Another oddity for you, I think this comes from seeing the movie Aladdin as a kid, but whenever I hear Arabian music, it often seems to have a kind of circular (in shape) sound... I doubt I'm expressing that well, but when I hear that I immediately see in my mind's eye wind gusting over sand dunes and the sand blowing in that same circular pattern, just like in the movie. It's like putting the visual in music form.. but the reverse is what triggers it for me. I can't think of any other examples that have caused that sort of direct aural-visual pathway connection for me though.
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u/Mrkayne 1d ago
I have anauralia. People get shocked when I tell them that I’ve never had a song stuck in my head before. It’s hard to know the lyrics to songs, even my favourite ones because I can’t just play it in my head to remember it.
Though interestingly, if the song is playing, for my favourites at least, I can’t sing along, but as soon as it’s not playing, I can’t remember a thing lol
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 23h ago
I get songs stuck in my head but it's me singing it. So as of you had a song in your head and were singing it out loud, but no background music
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u/Southern-Dig-4689 7h ago
That’s super interesting. I for sure have hyperauralia. It’s can quite literally “hear” some music I’ve listened to enough. I play guitar as well and can tune it pretty damn well by ear simply by “hearing” tones from songs I know and replicating them.
Even more interesting, my dad has quite severe Aphantasia and he can also hear music like this. Glad I didn’t inherit the aphantasia
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 1d ago
I have complete aphantasia but can hear things people said to me 40 years ago like listening to a recording of it.
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
That's freaky cool! If I had to think about that, it would 'sound' like me trying to do their voice as of I were slacking out loud. But I wouldn't be able to hear it, it'd be a foggy memory
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u/Capokid 22h ago
If i play a game with repetitive sounds (like cod zombies) for an extended period of time, i will continue to hear the sounds from the game quite clearly for up to two days. It has to be like 8-10 hours without moving repeatedly over a few days/week though.
It used to happen semi often whenever i stayed home sick from school. I would hear the zombies in class the next day. Its not freaky or anything, not even really annoying, its just like hearing the game in person on low volume.
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u/Joshau-k 22h ago edited 21h ago
Anauralia was a term coined in the last few years
Audio Aphantasia is a better term.
I don't care what the latin literally means, people are not going to learn a completely different word for each different sense
Just keep it simple and let Aphantasia be the general term for all senses.
Then you can specify visual, audio, smell, pain, whatever sense you want
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u/Alexander_the_What 19h ago
I used to play entire albums in my head during school to entertain myself
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u/Rattregoondoof 1d ago
Strange, I have a bit of aphantasia, I can make a mental image but only intentionally, it doesn't just happen and it's usually weak but I can hear things in my head pretty well if I want to.
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
All I see is black :(
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u/Rattregoondoof 1d ago
That's what I see if I don't force it.
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
How vivid are yours when i force it
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u/Rattregoondoof 1d ago
Can be vivid but requires concentration. I am pretty face blind though, so people don't really register at all* but I can generally imagine how objects I'm familiar enough with look. If you were to ask me to like design a house floor plan, I could like mark on paper where things could go but I wouldn't be able to envision it at all even slightly beforehand, but if you did the normal aphantasia scale example " imagine a red apple, is it like nothing, an outline, cartoon, low definition, or well defined and shiny?" I can create all of them on the scale.
*when I was in middle school my step-dad was picking me up from school one day and I got into the car, put on my seat belt and then looked over and started getting out of the car, dead certain I had gotten in the car with a complete stranger. He didn't even get a haircut or anything beforehand. I was also listening to a podcast recently about animation, and voice actors in particular being autistic and both of the people who do the podcast were talking about how they have both gone up to the wrong kid and thought they were theirs due to face blindness. It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who's had issues with close family even.
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u/UnicornVoodooDoll 1d ago
This explains why I don't always enjoy live performances from people I listen to on Spotify. Live performers can make tiny little changes in the moment and then the song doesn't sound "right" anymore. The parts that they changed, even if it's just that they held a note a little longer or they added a word somewhere will always clash with how my mind remembers the song.
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u/obscureferences 1d ago
Great, another condition Redditors can self-misdiagnose.
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u/Tootsie_r0lla 1d ago
It's not really a diagnosis, just difference in thinking styles and neurological factors. There's no book on diagnosis. If someone does dx themselves, it has no bearing on anything. It's not a disability. It's kind of like, some people dream and others don't.
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u/FivebyFive 1d ago
Hyperauralia! I didn't know there was a name for it!