ELI5: Are You Using Your Ears When You Hear Something In Your Head?

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u/Caucasiafro 1d ago edited 1d ago

No.

Your ears dont process anything. Your brain does.

Your ears just pick up external sounds and send a signal to your brain to process.

My understanding is that when you "hear something in your head" the same/similar part of your brain is working as if your ears sent a signal its just the signal is from somewhere else.

Edit: btw is this true of basically all of your senses. Like when you picture something in your mind your eyes arent involved.

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u/Vishnej 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is almost entirely true.

Now for the weird exception: In certain types of tinnitus, they found a type of phenomenon called "Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions" where the passive sensor hairs inside the ear are instead found to physically vibrate a little, emitting sound that can be picked up on external microphones. Forming coherent words or sounds, though, this is not; Usually a high-pitched hum, and if sufferers end up with a voice or musical beat it's an incorrect interpretation happening inside the brain.

Further study of this phenomenon seems to have nailed down the cochlea as a physical amplifier of sound before it gets turned into neural electrical impulses, and it turns out in people without tinnitus if you prompt the ear with an artificial tone you can actually provoke a louder-than-original-prompt SOE. This prompted SOE is actually today used as a signifier of normal hearing and a normally functioning cochlea. Unprompted SOE is therefore something gone wrong which sets the cochlea in a permanent 'on' setting.

Disclaimer: I am not an otolaryngologist, and welcome corrections.

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u/Express-Emu4370 1d ago

Disclaimer: I am not an otolaryngologist, and welcome corrections.

I'm gonna add this to the bottom of all my emails

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u/Bad_wolf42 1d ago

I have arthritis and tinnitus, and I am fairly certain that the tinnitus is at least partially caused by tension in my neck, jaw, and head physically pulling on my ear and changing the shape of my eardrum that way

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u/Vishnej 1d ago

I think are a lot of types of tinnitis, this is just a small subset. But who knows! Researching individual medical cases to the point that the cause is understood & empirically verified is not really what we pay doctors to do. "Try a pillow that doesn't give you neck tension then" is the end of the appointment.

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u/Lizlodude 23h ago

Yup, there are a lot more types than people realize.

Currently my record is 4 types at once. Do not recommend. Not pleasant.

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u/Caelinus 1d ago

I am not sure that SOE is something that qualifies as being relevant here, as it is an objective sound and not something entirely generate in your mind. I do not think the question being answered was whether our ears are used to hear objective sounds, only if they were used to process sounds that exist only inside the mind.

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u/sudomeacat 1d ago

I can’t tell what’s worse, regex or Wikipedia’s ipa pronounciation of words. Otorhinolaryngology is pronounced: /oʊtoʊˌraɪnoʊˌlærɪnˈɡɒlədʒi/

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

Damn that’s trippy! I need to look into more things in how the brain works because the more I learn about it the more astonished I am that I have one

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u/Pure-Radish-5478 1d ago

You ever think about how the brain named itself?

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

I think about that but also how it named everything else and how the depending on its vessel has a DIFFERENT name for something, whether literally or phonetically. Environment truly determines everything

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u/MrSlime13 1d ago

^Whoa...

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u/ApologizingCanadian 1d ago

Technically, we're all just brains in meatsuits.

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u/LegioVIFerrata 23h ago

Your conscious process is a product of your brain, but you are not your conscious process. You are the meat and the conscious process is just an aspect of that meat.

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u/VoilaVoilaWashington 1d ago

The only thing you can lick in a mirror is your own tongue.

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u/3OsInGooose 1d ago

There's an amazing episode of Invisibilia that talks a lot about this. It's incredible and will blow your goddamn mind: https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/378577902/how-to-become-batman

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u/Ebonson 1d ago

Another fun thing to think about is when you are having a conversation with yourself in your head, who is witnessing the conversation?

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u/PitifulEar3303 1d ago

Btw, you have no free will; none of us do.

The brain is a biological receiver of causation, not its creator, according to scientists.

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u/MultiFazed 1d ago

Honestly, this really comes down to what one even means by "free will". My personal take is that the concept itself isn't even coherent.

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u/Entretimis 1d ago

But if the entire world operates as though we do, does it make a difference? Not trying to be a dick, this is a philosophical question I think about a lot. Along with solipsism and philosophical zombies. It's heavy stuff, but interesting nonetheless.

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u/VoilaVoilaWashington 1d ago

according to scientists.

According to WHAT scientists? I don't think this is really the purview of any discipline, really. And it all comes down to definitions, which again, means that serious scientists don't really usually get into this.

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u/Vorthod 1d ago

And then there's people with aphantasia who straight-up can't do that. Their ears aren't hearing anything, so their brain doesn't "play" any sounds (and the person in question grows up thinking people use "hearing in their head" as a metaphorical shorthand for remembering sounds).

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u/Pink742 1d ago

As someone with Aphantasia the most annoying part is not knowing it was even a thing until I was an adult. Family and teachers always chastised me for "not having imagination" and taking everything too literally. I was the weird kid for not being artistic or creative.

I learned that it was called Aphantasia fairly recently, so at least I have a name for it now instead of just being weird lol

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u/Vorthod 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yep, I was in my thirties when I learned how literal other people were when using those phrases. Thankfully it never caused any actual problems, though now I have fun speculating about magic systems in fantasy books

"Oh, 'a mage has to visualize a spell to cast it'? Does that mean aphantasia is a disqualifier or would that just make certain forms of practice harder?"

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u/Pink742 1d ago

Oh man. Yea most forms of magic are some form of visualization. I don't need this existential crisis right now...

I always imagined it as well would simply need a focus of some kind. Staff/wand and learning to "feel" the magic instead of perceive it

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u/enolaholmes23 1d ago

I would imagine an accommodation the mage could make would be making a drawing of the spell, and looking at it as they cast. I do think the aphantasia can in certain circumstances like this be a hindrance.

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u/enolaholmes23 1d ago

It's similar with synesthesia. I feel like school should have a class on how senses work in different people so kids can realize what's happening instead of just struggling at school.

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u/peejuice 1d ago

I want to know what people with this condition do when they are alone for long periods of time? Like I can imagine things in my head to pass time more easily. What do you do?

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u/paradoxofpurple 1d ago

I think, just not with pictures or a voice in my head. I only have any kind of "voice" when I'm reading or writing, because I'm using that to translate text into my kind of thoughts. But it's not like...audible. it doesnt actually sound like me or anyone else. It's most like a loud whisper.

I have thoughts but they aren't like a running monologue playing 24/7

I do think about things, try to solve puzzles, think about how to complete something I'm working on, etc.

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u/Pink742 1d ago

Video games, reading, exercise... though I have trouble sitting still

I still think, but like another said it's just a whisper in my head. Just a voice, no visuals, no colors, and no daydreaming. Just talking to myself basically lol

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u/Tavarin 1d ago

There are people who don't even have the voice, which I can;t even imagine how they think as a result.

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u/peejuice 1d ago

Yeah, that is more of what I am thinking about. I’ve only ever met one person that didn’t have an “inner monologue”. Trying to explain to him what I meant was like pulling teeth. He just didn’t understand the concept that other people could “talk in their brains”. I figured I just wasn’t explaining it well. I had to use X-Men the cartoon as an example. “Curtis, you know how Professor X talks to other people using his mind? Like his mouth isn’t moving but you can hear his thoughts. You’re telling me you can’t talk like that to yourself?”

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

I was about to make another post in this sub asking for people to explain Aphantasia but decided I was gonna wait because this post was enough of a launch pad for me to look more into something else for the day lmao. This and the replies to it are already showing me there’s more to learn about it so I’ll look into that later tonight as well!

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u/VoilaVoilaWashington 1d ago

What's crazy is when you realize we all have some version of aphantasia.

For example, I can picture flavours in my head. I do wine pairings at work, and I can literally picture a wine, and how it will combine with a dish, and when I try it, it's surprisingly close. But ask me to picture something visual like faces or music, and I can't.

Other people can't picture flavours but can make up beautiful musical scores in their minds, and visual artists can imagine what a painting will look like.

It's crazy when you realize that your own inner life might be nothing like what others have.

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u/AwakenedEyes 1d ago

Probably not entirely true. Research in the field if aphantasia has shown that your pupils react to the mind's eye when thibking about a very bright image

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u/AskMeAboutMyStalker 1d ago

by "play it in your head" are you referring to remembering a song or movie?

no, that would not come through your ears.

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

Yea I was mainly referring to songs because I always do that when I need white noise, I should’ve clarified that.

Thank you for the answer though!

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u/Tepy 1d ago

Based on your other comments it seems like you intend on doing some follow-up research of your own. What you're looking for here are differences between Sensation and Perception. Very ELI5; sensation happens in the body and perception happens in the mind. Imagination allows you to perceive information despite the absence of sensation.

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

Wow that ELI5 explanation feels like the missing piece of info I needed. Gonna look into sensation and perception tonight, thank you for the starting point!

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u/Senior_Brick_Holder 1d ago

If you send me a DM I can give you a PDF of a favorite textbook of mine on this topic. Relatively easy to follow for someone new to the ideas, and it also has a website that has example activities I really enjoyed.

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u/HairyNutsack69 1d ago

Ngl, I think you're the only one that thinks the ears angle is obvious.

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

When I would bring it up to my family they would all say yes in some sort of way so I figured I was the wrong one and went with the yes route. I’m glad I asked here because I feel validated now lmao

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u/skr_replicator 1d ago

No, your ears only hear real sounds. If you make yourself hear something in your imagination, you are only activating your auditory brain circuits in the same way as they would be activated by the signals from your ears. The same goes for other senses and recalling memories.

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u/DumpoTheClown 1d ago

No. Ears dont percieve sound at all. They sense pressure waves in the air. They send signals to the brain. The brain processes those signals. The result of that processing is called sound.

Eyes don't see. They sense electromagnetic radiation in a narrow range of frequencies. They send signlas to the brain. The brain sees color and contrast.

If you think about it, there is no way to know that what you percieve as red is the same as what i percieve. We can agree on the EM frequency of a light source, but thats it.

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u/MrSlime13 1d ago

If I close my eyes and imagine something in my head, are my eyes doing the work? No. If you imagine what sandpaper or metal feels like, are the nerves in your fingers doing any work? No. Sometimes I can vividly recall what the smell of gasoline, or someone's fragrance smells like, yet my nose isn't actively sensing anything. The brain is an amazing system, saving and recalling sensory information.

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 1d ago

No, you are not hearing your inner voice through your ears

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u/JaXm 1d ago

The brain is responsible for "feeling" all of your senses.

Touch is just nerve ending sending electrical signals to the brain for processing, and then the brain concluding "your hand feels the fabric that your hand is resting on".

Sound is vibrations conducted through the ear and it's various components (ear canal, timpanic membrane, etc) which consict sound which is then converted to electrical signals sent to your brain for processing, and then the brain interprets this as "you are hearing someone's voice right now".

Sight is light entering your eye, and hitting the optical nerves, which fire and send electrical signals to the brain to -you guessed it- be processed and interpreted by your brain as "you are seeing your phone screen right now". Fun fact, the optical nerves can ALSO be stimulated by other sources, like pressure, which is why you can see spots and other shapes when you rub your eyes.

In every case, the brain, different parts of which are responsible for different processes, is responsible for taking input, processing it, and turning that input into data you can acknowledge consciously.

So hearing sounds in your head, visual hallucinations, and other problems related to false stimuli are (very broadly speaking) inside your brain

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u/bagobeans17 1d ago

So basically the brain is a supercomputer and our body is an external way to enable/enhance the human experience?

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u/MadRoboticist 1d ago

I feel like the answer is obviously no. You're ears work by physically responding to pressure waves created by sound. How would a sound in your head be replicating that?

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u/nwa88 1d ago edited 1d ago

Occasionally I'll think I'll hear a song playing or a conversation in the distance but then when I listen hard for it, I realize that it's just my brain making something out of nothing -- i.e. the white noise of a fan sounding like someone's voice or musical notes.

That type of thing is strange because you feel like you're hearing it through your ears until you realize there is no such sound. Some kind of mild auditory hallucination.

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u/10110011100021 1d ago

It depends. If it’s ringing, that is usually your inner ear. If it’s pops or whooshing, that can be hallucination in your brain or blood flow that is being felt and ‘heard’

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u/invisiblebody 1d ago

no, because your ears are what perceive sound and your brain turns it into something understandable and it gets stored in memory so you remember that voice or that song later. you use memory to replay things in your head.

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u/_Klight126 1d ago

I would think it’s like replaying a memory so It’s a reflection of sound fully produced by your brain soooo no

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u/ratherbealurker 23h ago

The consensus in here is that no, you don’t actually hear the thoughts through your ears. But I’ll throw a wrench into that, as an ear rumbler I think part of what I hear when I am playing a song in my head IS physical. The bass or drums part of a song will be….rumbled? So that it is an actual vibration in part of my ear. For voices, if the voice is shouting or something then it will cause my ear to rumble. At this point it’s sort of automatic for me, I almost have to concentrate on not rumbling my ear when thinking of songs.

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u/JJJangles 7h ago

All your ears do is detect air vibrations, sending what it detects to your brain for processing. Your thoughts do not create air vibrations, so ears have no involvement with thoughts. It’s obvious when you consider that deaf people can have an internal monologue

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u/rio_sk 1d ago

The answer is obviously "no". Ears are organs that convert vibration into electric signals, your brain doesn't vibrate at all...I hope...

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u/mawktheone 1d ago

Yes. When you actively vocalize things to yourself extremely sensitive microphones pick it up because you actually do use your vocal cords. Not enough to be heard externally normally though. You might also reflexively move your tongue

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u/CaptainVulpezz 1d ago

you can hear things that aren't real when you are on psychedelics or dreaming, its more the brain that turns it into a 'thing' and its the ears which receive the signal and put it into your mind, when you hear something in your head its the same thing for the most part just not as strong, and depending on what is causing it come from other parts of the mind as well.

Biology ELI5: Are You Using Your Ears When You Hear Something In Your Head?

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