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I don't have an internal monologue and I can't hear anything in my head. Yet I still get earworms. I "hear" the shape of the music, get hints of timbre, and my recognition of the lyrics comes through. It's almost like the volume is really low, but I don't think that's really it. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as actually hearing it in your head, though. I sympathize for everyone else.

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No one "hears things" in their head unless they are experiencing auditory hallucinations. It's just a phrase we use to describe exactly what you just outlined.

I'll occasionally hear things when falling asleep, just as I'll also see some imagery when falling asleep (I'm also unable to visualize). So I assumed the snippets of sound I would hear was what people heard normally, just as I'm assuming the snippets of imagery would match what people normally see when they visualize. The sounds I hear (infrequently) sound like something in the environment, though it's clearly not.

So now I need to rework my assumptions. Thank you for letting me know. Language is terrible for conveying this type of information.

I agree we don’t have a great way to talk about these vague terms like “minds eye” and “inner monologue”. It’s hard to tell if people are just talking past each other or actually have real differences.

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