Anauralia
When the mind’s ear is silent: no voices, tunes or sounds in the imagination
Contents
Anauralia is the absence of auditory imagery: voices, music or sounds cannot be “heard in your head”. The term was proposed by Hinwar and Lambert in 2021. In their study, anauralia was closely linked to aphantasia, but in individual cases it also occurred without it.
What is anauralia?
Can you listen to a friend’s voice or your favourite song in your mind? Many people can, some cannot. Because there was no English word for the absence of this auditory imagery, Hinwar and Lambert proposed the term “anauralia” in 2021.
In their study, auditory imagery was measured with a questionnaire (BAIS-V). Anyone with a mean score of 2.0 or less was categorised as anauralic. For visual imagery they used a variant of the VVIQ questionnaire (VVIQ-M) with the same cut-off of 2.0 for aphantasia (Hinwar & Lambert 2021).
- Term: Hinwar & Lambert 2021
- Study with 128 people
- measured by self-report
What research shows
Hinwar and Lambert surveyed 128 people, including 34 who described themselves as aphantasic. Many participants were recruited through aphantasia groups on Facebook. According to the classification, 29 people had no auditory imagery.
- Association
- 0.83
- between auditory and visual imagery (Spearman correlation)
- of the aphantasia group
- 82%
- were also anauralic
- of the anauralia group
- 97%
- were also aphantasic
The two do not overlap completely, though: the aphantasia group included one person with typical auditory imagery, and the group without auditory imagery (29 people) included one person with typical visual imagery. Weak visual and auditory imagery can therefore occur separately, albeit apparently rarely (Hinwar & Lambert 2021).
What larger aphantasia studies report
- In the first aphantasia study, 10 of 21 participants said that all senses of imagery were affected (Zeman et al. 2015).
- In a large questionnaire study, 54.2% of participants with aphantasia reported that imagery in all senses was faint. Many, however, had imagery in other senses, most often hearing (Zeman et al. 2020).
- People with aphantasia reported measurably weaker auditory imagery on average. Only 26.22% reported having no imagery in any sense at all (Dawes et al. 2020).
Anauralia and the inner voice: not the same thing
Anauralia refers to a lack of inner hearing in general: sounds, music, voices. The inner voice is something narrower, namely the experience of thinking in the words of a language. For the absence of this inner speech, Nedergaard and Lupyan (2024) proposed a separate term: anendophasia.
In their study, people with little inner speech (46 people) performed worse than people with a lot of inner speech (47 people) at holding words in short-term memory and at judging rhymes. They also note that auditory imagery has sometimes been used in earlier studies as a stand-in measure for inner speech (Nedergaard & Lupyan 2024).
Anauralia and anendophasia are therefore defined separately. In our research we did not find a study that measures both in the same group.
A personal account
Watkins, who has aphantasia himself, describes “unheard” words that carry his thoughts and “unheard” music: he often has a tune going round in his head; all he lacks is the direct experience of “hearing” it. This is a single case, but it shows that thinking in words without inner hearing is possible (Watkins 2018).
Does it need its own word?
It has been proposed to coin a separate term for missing imagery in each sense, such as “anauralia” for the missing mind’s ear. Zeman (2024) considers it simpler to keep the established terms aphantasia and hyperphantasia and to qualify them where needed, for example as “visual”, “auditory” or “global”. “Auditory aphantasia” would then be another word for anauralia.
Limits of the research
- The studies rely exclusively on self-reports about inner experience. Hinwar and Lambert themselves name this as a limitation of their own and other studies.
- The 29 out of 128 people are not a prevalence in the population: many participants were recruited specifically from aphantasia groups.
- How anauralia and the absence of an inner voice are related: we have not yet found a study on this.
Frequently asked questions about anauralia
What is anauralia?
Anauralia is the absence of auditory imagery: you cannot listen to voices, music or sounds in your mind. The term was proposed by Hinwar and Lambert in 2021; people with a mean questionnaire score of 2.0 or less were categorised as anauralic.
Do people with aphantasia usually lack inner hearing too?
Often, but not always. In Hinwar and Lambert (2021), 82% of aphantasic participants were also anauralic. In a large study, 54.2% of people with aphantasia said that all senses were faint; many, however, had imagery in other senses, most often hearing (Zeman et al. 2020).
Can you have anauralia without aphantasia?
Yes, it happens, but it seems to be rare. In the study by Hinwar and Lambert (2021), one of the 29 people without auditory imagery had typical visual imagery.
Is anauralia the same as “no inner monologue”?
Not quite. Anauralia refers to a lack of inner hearing in general. The absence of experienced inner speech has been described as anendophasia (Nedergaard & Lupyan 2024). Some people think in words without “hearing” them (Watkins 2018).
Why is the term debated?
Because it is unclear whether every sense needs its own word. Zeman (2024) suggests keeping the term aphantasia and specifying which sense is affected, for example “auditory” or “global” aphantasia.
Scientific Sources
- Hinwar, R. P. & Lambert, A. J. (2021). Anauralia: The Silent Mind and Its Association With Aphantasia. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 744213. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.744213
- Nedergaard, J. S. K. & Lupyan, G. (2024). Not Everybody Has an Inner Voice: Behavioral Consequences of Anendophasia. Psychological Science, 35(7), 780–797. doi:10.1177/09567976241243004
- Zeman, A. (2024). Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(5), 467–480. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2024.02.007
- Zeman, A., Milton, F., Della Sala, S. et al. (2020). Phantasia – The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes. Cortex, 130, 426–440. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003
- Zeman, A., Dewar, M. & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019
- Dawes, A. J., Keogh, R., Andrillon, T. & Pearson, J. (2020). A cognitive profile of multi-sensory imagery, memory and dreaming in aphantasia. Scientific Reports, 10, 10022. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-65705-7
- Watkins, N. W. (2018). (A)phantasia and severely deficient autobiographical memory: Scientific and personal perspectives. Cortex, 105, 41–52. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.010
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Do you hear anything inside?
The inner monologue test asks about your inner voice; the MST-21 asks about your imagery in all senses, including hearing. Both are meant for orientation and are not a diagnosis.