Voice in head while reading = no more comprehension, massive slowdown

[the_tortoise]

When I read, if I start sounding out the words in my head (or with my mouth, but I don't do this unless I'm reading to others), I stop understanding them and I become the slowest reader ever if I'm trying to understand what I'm reading. (And I'm already slow when I read for comprehension, even though I read quickly if I don't bother with comprehension.)

It's very frustrating, and it happens when I am tired....I think my brain slips into decoding mode (i.e. reading the words as pure sounds, not as meaningful symbols) because the translation involved in comprehending mode is too hard .

Does anyone understand what I'm talking about or experience it personally?

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

Not really the same, as I always have a voice in my head when I'm reading, but when I read out loud I cannot understand what I am reading, even if I read it slowly enough to slightly understand it I will not remember a single thing once I have finished. I'm dyslexic.

 

[Sylar]

I read with the voice in my head sounding out words and it makes reading quite slow. I'm opposite, though, I can only take in what I'm reading if I sound out the words.

I looked online for ways to speed up reading and they say you can read without sounding the words and even skip words and your brain will fill in the blanks and you can finish a book without any loss in comprehension but I didn't find to be true. The biggest problem trying that was that I kept reading the same lines or words over and over.

I find the best way to speed it up is to listen to the same thing as an audiobook while I read the physical book.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I didn't even realise it was possible to read without a voice in your head. I just tried and it didn't work, guess I won't be speeding up my reading.

 

[Vinca]

When I am more exhausted or tired that usual my comprehension of the words I read is much worse.

There are times when the reading voice in my head seems louder and more forceful than usual but my comprehension of what I am reading isn't optimal.

My eyes can take in the shapes of words faster that my reading voice in my head can sound out the words and I can comprehend them. Reading with one eye closed, slows down how fast my eyes can take in the shapes of words to the same speed as my reading voice in my head and rate of my comprehension

 

[SingaSong]

Ive always had a voice in my head when I read. I specifically realised it when I was reading something by Alan Bennett. It was biographical and I realised that the voice in my head was his voice.

I sometimes find it easier to read out loud in private.

 

[the_tortoise]

I am the odd one out, it seems.

Question for all:

When you think of words before saying them, do you hear them in your head? What about when you think of them before writing them?

When I think of words before I say or write them, I see them in my head. Hearing them in my head is only necessary if I'm going to say them aloud, and is the very last step before I speak.

For me the, hearing words in my head is part of decoding the sounds of words, and separate from decoding the meanings of words.

 

[Butterflux]

I had this when i needed glasses but didn't know because one eye was good and overcompensated for the other.

 

[the_tortoise]

I had this when i needed glasses but didn't know because one eye was good and overcompensated for the other.

Do you mean that you started imagining the sounds of the words in your head because of your visions problems....slipped into decoding for sound instead of decoding for meaning?