You can quiet subvocalization but not switch it off, and you should not try to, because the inner voice helps you hold a sentence in your head long enough to understand it.
At a Glance
- Subvocalization is the voice you hear in your head when you read silently
- It helps your memory hold words while a sentence comes together
- Trying to remove it completely tends to hurt understanding on hard text
- A steady pace a little faster than speech is the best way to quiet it
What Subvocalization Is
Subvocalization is the habit of saying words to yourself as you read silently. For most people it feels like hearing a quiet voice. Some people also move their lips or throat a little, even if no sound comes out.
Scientists have measured this. In 1970 Curtis Hardyck and Lewis Petrinovich recorded tiny throat muscle signals while people read silently, and looked at how those signals and understanding changed with how hard the text was (Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior). Later work found people lean on the inner voice more as the reading task gets bigger, more for paragraphs than for single sentences (research summary).
Almost everyone does it. It is not a bad habit you picked up as a kid. It is part of how skilled readers handle language.
Why the Inner Voice Is There
When you read a sentence, you cannot understand each word on its own. You need to hold the first few words in mind until the end of the sentence tells you what they mean together.
Your short term memory is very good at holding sounds. Saying words to yourself keeps them alive for a few seconds, which is exactly as long as you need. That is the job the inner voice does.
You can see this when you read a long, twisty sentence. You slow down, and the inner voice gets louder. That is your brain asking for more help, not a flaw.
Can You Stop It Completely?
Not in any useful way. In a 1980 study, Slowiaczek and Clifton kept readers' inner voice busy while they took in a text. Blocking the voice hurt reading comprehension, but it did not hurt listening comprehension (Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, as summed up on Wikipedia).
That fits the bigger picture. A long 2016 review on speed reading, led by Keith Rayner, found no shortcut around the work of understanding language. It said language skill is at the heart of reading speed (Rayner and team, 2016). Getting rid of the inner voice is not the path to faster reading.
The goal is not silence. The goal is to stop saying every small word slowly and clearly.
Ways to Quiet It That Actually Help
Most people read slower than they could because the inner voice is talking at full speaking speed, word by word, as if reading out loud. You can teach it to skim along faster and lighter. Here is how.
- Read a little faster than you talk. Normal speech is slower than skilled silent reading. Adults average about 183 words a minute reading aloud and 238 reading silently (Brysbaert 2019). If your pace is just above speaking speed, the voice cannot say every word in full and starts to blur the small ones. This is the single best method.
- Use a pacer. Run a finger or a pen under the line at a steady speed, a little faster than is comfortable. Your eyes follow it and the voice has to keep up.
- Try a one word at a time reader. A tool like Rot Reader sets the pace for you. Put it about 50 words a minute above your normal speed and the voice will start to drop the little words on its own.
- Read in short phrases. Try to take in two or three words as one idea, like
at the store
orby the end
. Rot Reader can show two or three words at a time to train this. - Practice on easy text. A light novel is the right place to learn. On hard material, let the voice come back.
Some guides tell you to hum, count or chew gum while you read to block the voice. Try it if you like, but most people find it just steals attention from the text.
When to Let the Voice Back In
Quieting the inner voice is a tool for easy reading. On some material you want it at full strength.
- Hard or unfamiliar topics, where each sentence needs work
- Contracts and instructions, where a missed word costs you
- Poetry and good prose, where the sound is part of the point
- Names and new terms you want to remember
Good readers switch between modes without thinking. Fast and light on a news story. Slow and spoken on a lease. That is the skill worth building.
How to Tell If It Is Working
Speed alone tells you nothing. The reading speed test scores you on what you understood, not just how fast you went. Take it now, then again after two weeks of practice with a pacer or a reader. If your effective score went up, you are reading faster. If only your raw speed went up, you are skipping.
For more ideas on raising your speed without losing meaning, read how to read faster. If you are curious whether bigger claims hold up, see is speed reading real.
Questions
What is subvocalization?
It is the habit of saying words to yourself in your head while you read silently. Almost everyone does it, and it helps you hold words in memory while a sentence comes together.
Is subvocalization bad?
No. It supports understanding, especially on hard text. It only slows you down when the inner voice says every word slowly and clearly on easy material.
Can you read without subvocalizing?
Not fully, at least not without losing understanding on hard text. You can quiet it a lot on easy material by reading at a steady pace a little faster than speech.
What is the fastest way to reduce subvocalization?
Set a pace slightly faster than you talk, using a finger, a pen or a one word at a time reader. The voice cannot keep up word by word and starts to drop the small words.
Does subvocalization limit reading speed?
It can when the voice runs at full speaking speed. Skilled readers still have an inner voice, but it is faster and lighter, and it does not sound out every word.
Sources
- Hardyck, C. D. and Petrinovich, L. F. (December 1970). Subvocal speech and comprehension level as a function of the difficulty level of reading material. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9(6), 647 to 652. doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(70)80027-5
- Slowiaczek, M. L. and Clifton, C. (October 1980). Subvocalization and reading for meaning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19(5), 573 to 582. doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(80)90628-3
- Subvocalization, Wikipedia, for the research summary on inner speech and comprehension. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocalization
- Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E. J., Potter, M. C. and Treiman, R. (January 14, 2016). So Much to Read, So Little Time. How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1), 4 to 34. doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109. doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047
All sources were opened and checked on October 17, 2026. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under the licenses named in each caption.
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