Inner speech

Inner speech is the experience of “talking to yourself” in your head—the inner voice you hear when you rehearse what to say, read silently, or think in words. It is a form of auditory imagery focused on speech and language: you “hear” words or phrases without speaking aloud. Research shows that inner speech uses much of the same brain circuitry as actual speech production, so mentally rehearsing a conversation or a line can support fluency and confidence. It is related to the mind's ear and is distinct from earworms (involuntary musical imagery). The Imagination Index measures auditory imagery as one of the six senses, which includes your ability to imagine speech and sound; strength in inner speech often goes with stronger voluntary auditory imagery in general.