This page contains all the
readers’ comments on the “Ticker Tape” article, received between 2022 and 2026.
I have tried to explain this to people for years, like
"fun fact, my brain actually produces subtitles, it's a weird part of how
I process verbal words. when someone says a word I don't know I actually have
to ask them how to spell it, or else my brain starts giving me data errors. if
there's a different accent or emphasis, it's spelled differently."
and then I find this.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: May 9, 2025 at 1:37 AM
The same thing often happens to me. Not knowing how to spell
words is infuriating for me and oftentimes my brain will actually just tune the
word out! If it doesn’t, I have to ask how the word is spelled just like you.
Otherwise I will lay awake at night pondering how that word could be spelled.
So good to hear from someone who experiences the same things
as me!
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: June 15, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I think I have some milder form of this. I definitely always
see every word in my head, be it from my inner dialogue or from others, but the
words are always a dull grey against a black background so they’re not
extremely visible or irritating. I have the same with images in my mind as
well, they’re never very bright! The words also fade pretty quickly, and it’s
rarely whole sentences. I’ve always been great at spelling and I seem to have
some sort of instinct for spelling in different languages as well. The letters
of my words are always in this font I’m typing in right now, kinda Arial-esque
shaped. As a kid I used to read and spell all the traffic and direction plaques
aloud in the car while we drove, and I could recall all the town names even
when we’d already whizzed past. I have some sort of pet peeve when people spell
town or people’s names wrong, especially when teachers do it. It’s pretty cool
that there’s actually a name for this!
Reply by: Aurora. Date: September 3, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I always have to ask people to spell things, especially
their names. I met one girl who said her name was "Emma," which is
incredibly common and normal, but she said it with some kind of speech
impediment. "What's your name?" "*unintelligible*"
"Sorry, what?" "*still unintelligible*" "Sorry, how do
you spell it?" "E M M A" "...Oh, yeah, nice to meet you,
Emma." Makes me feel really ridiculous when it's a common name that I can't
process. Of course, it wasn't really unintelligible, it was just off enough that
my subtitles didn't generate properly and my brain couldn't figure it out.
Or Japanese. I can speak very basic Japanese. And, like
Spanish, the sounds are more straight-forward than English. And I can puzzle it
out. But sometimes it just fails. If I hear "Furansu" for
"France" then the subtitles say "furansu" (the subtitles
don't do great with Japanese characters, so it's just straight memorization
there) but typical speakers say it faster and with silent letters, so it sounds
like "frans-" and even though I know the word, I have to double check
with my teacher "it's fu-ra-n-su, right?"
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January 18, 2023 at 8:31 PM
I am so happy to know I'm not the only one! My mind grabs
random words that either someone or myself say aloud and words from my inner
voice and have to spell them. That one word is like hanging in the air and I'm
tracing its letters while saying each letter (in my head)
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March 15, 2023 at 6:19 AM
When I have tried to explain to others that I not only hear
words but I see them as well nobody seems to grasp what I mean.
I don't just see the words though, I actually see the words
shaped like whatever is being discussed.
As an example, if I saw a red car drive by my mind would see
the words "red car" in red lettering with each individual letter
being formed from little car shapes that are all red with black outlines to
differentiate each car shape that combine to form the letter.
This happens regardless of it is me speaking aloud or in my
own head or if another person is speaking .... it doesn't matter what is said
tho ... the letters that I see always seem to be formed from miniscule
"pictures" of whatever words are being spoken and depending on what
those words are the color of the letters will change to best fit the words and
the shapes forming the letters.
I have always compared my seeing in words to a teleprompter
which isn't much different than a ticker taker other than it being a larger
"screen"
Does this make any sense to anybody? I have always seen
words ....
I am 53 and while pretty much everybody I know withinn10-15
years of my age have said their memory over time has gotten worse mine hasn't
and at times it seems to be getting even better than it was (and trust me it
was already well beyond what would be considered to be having a good memory.
Sorry for babbling on but this is the first time I have felt
like maybe I'm not craxy afterall because being so different hasn't been easy.
I also have a pretty high IQ and wonder if that plays into
this as well.
I can taste smells and feel sounds and smell sounds too so
yeah, maybe I am crazy just not certifiable ... lol
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: March 23, 2024 at 12:22 PM
I just learned today that this is not normal. I have had
this my whole life and just figured everybody saw the words in their head. I
never questioned it, just figured it was a normal thing.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: March 27, 2024 at 5:47 PM
Same here. I mentioned it at work the other day, and the
other 2 people in the room said "thats weird." I forgot about it
until today, and I started researching. Now I'm wondering what else might not
be "normal" lol.
Comment by: John. Date: August 2, 2023 at 6:45 PM
I did not know about this condition. Makes sense to me now.
When I hear words that are uncommon or learning new words or phrases, I have to
see it in my head. I’m trying to learn a new language and it is frustrating
because I can’t just listen and repeat. I have to see the word in my head.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October 26, 2023 at 12:09 AM
I have tickertape Synesthesia and I speak French and English
and Spanish and if people around me are speaking in one of the said languages I
can simultaneously translate them in the two other languages and see each word,
in my mind as they talk with the sounds of breathing 😮💨
and when they exhale 😮💨 and see the
hum’s and the whatever they say with every sound and a dog barking woof! Or pow
💥
or every sound I hear I see in words with commas, and question marks
Everything. I can’t stop seeing the words sung in a song 🎵
every ooooh and aaaah and yeaaah and nah nah nah in my mind like in a cartoon
bubble. People yelling I see in Black CAPITAL letters, and I can’t stop this. I
am not crazy!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: February 18, 2024 at 2:39 AM
i have this as well, when words are muttered it’s sort of
just a jumble of letters with only some consonants popping out that i can
distinguish. i don’t see colors in my words, but they sort of appear like
static, popping in when spoken and disappearing as soon as i process the word.
and i’ve always been really good at spelling because all i have to do is hear
the word and i know how to spell it. i’ve only told one person about it, as i’m
trying to do more research on it, because honestly it sounds fake, and i don’t
know how to explain it, because i just realized in the past year or so that it
isn’t normal, and that most people only hear the words instead of seeing them
as well, which is hard to wrap my brain around
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March 2, 2024 at 3:09 PM
If someone needs help spelling a word I see the word as bold
black letters on an almost opaque beaming background. Words that I don’t know
how to spell just show up.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April 26, 2024 at 5:58 AM
I see the words more like a teleprompter than a running
tape. If I've heard a word or sentence & want to revisit it, it shows in
front of me a bit like a meme. If I'm hearing a language that is not my first
language- it does resemble a tickertape. I also 'see' words in other languages
as having personalities, (I'm picturing French and Korean right now) but I
don't really in English, which is my first language.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: September 24, 2024 at
5:37 AM
what is the opposite? when i read text i will hear the
character who said it speak (in my mind, like internal dialogue.) what is this
called?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). Date: September
24, 2024 at 1:07 PM
The terms for this are "subvocalization" or
"auditory assurance", I believe.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: May 9, 2025 at 1:41 AM
I actually do this too, along with ticker tape. It makes
reading and listening to music very hard sometimes!! If I’m reading, I won’t
hear a single thing people are saying. And I also can’t listen to two things at
once, or else the subtitles in my head will become huge capital letters that
start to overlap with each other and I have to stop one sound to hear the
other.
Comment by: omar. Date: September 29, 2024 at 12:53 PM
Hi, my name is omar hussein. I am 18 years old. I born in
Saudi Arabia and now I live in Ethiopia since 12 years old. I see words like
subtitles as white and black backgrounds(the color don't change by emotions or
volume) and default font style with normal size (the size don't differ by
emotions or volume), I see one word at a time and because of this I have
difficality in my hearing especially in my third language(Amharic) but if it is
my native language(Arabic) or second language(English) I write the captions
more faster and it is more easy to me. I have difficulties in multitasking like
listening and noticing the environment or doing anorher work . I have
difficulties in memorizing what people says exactly(wierd yeah) even if I can
write words in my mind I can't exactly memorize what people say. I tried to
solve this problem by playing brain games like neuoronation, peak and lumosity,
dividing attention games increased my hearing very efficiently. in my
neuronation test I get 100% in reasoning, 70-100% in memory, 100% attention,
and a low score in speed(20-70%)
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October 18, 2024 at 7:12 AM
I have been seeing the words in my head all my life!
Sometimes this is exhausting....
I had no idea so many people are like me!
I told my daughters and one of them said : I have got it
too, why do you ask, doesn't everyone has it?
I learn very easily foreign languages, I speak four
(included my maternal one) and I am excellent in spelling all of them.
When I watch a movie with subtitles I hear the words I see
them in my head and in parallel I read the subtitles. This seems funny but it's
overwhelming!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: November 12, 2024 at 8:11 PM
I thank that I'm not alone but when I or someone talking in
my mind I spell out every word that comes out no matter how long the word is I
still manage to spell it and I think that's one of the reasons I almost won the
spelling Bee championship.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: December 10, 2024 at
11:06 PM
So, I saw someone commented about this above, but I think my
situation doesn't really fit into those 2 definitions.
I absolutely love music and literally couldn't live without
it. A reason for that is because I can always experience it! I actually thought
everyone had this until recently when I read that comment and thought about it
for a bit. When I think about music or a song is stuck in my head (which
happens a lot), I can hear it like its playing in an earbud. For example, today
in class we were testing, and music always helps me focus, but I couldn't get
my earbuds. So, I just thought a song that I really like to study to, and it
was like the earbud was in my ear. It helped me a lot on my test and actually
reminded me about this.
I also do hear the voice of the people I'm reading about in
books (that's why I love to read), and when I listen to a book while reading
along, sometimes it also gets on my nerves. Another example, right now in my
English class we're read 'A Christmas Carol' and were following along to an
audio, and it kept getting on my nerves the way the person read it because the
voices for the characters didn't sound right.
Again, this might just be one of the 2 up there, but if it's
something different I'd love to know!
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). Date: December
20, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Hi! The experiencies you talk about here aren’t considered
synesthesia. Listening to a mental voice while you’re reading has a name, it’s
called subvocalization. Being able to perfectly recreate music in your mind I’m
not sure, but I think this skill could be considered auditory hyperphantasia.
Maybe you could look into those terms to find people who have the same
abilities or experiences as you do?
Comment by: Alan Fisk. Date: January 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
My mother had it, but I've only quite recently (at the age
of 74!) discovered that not every one sees words in their mind's eye when they
hear them. Being a good speller helped me when I spent decades as an editor.
The only trouble is that the display appears only in Roman
letters. If I hear a Slavic language, the words don't appear in the Cyrillic
alphabet.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: February 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
I've always know that synesthesia runs on my mom side, but I
had thought it had skipped me, as all of the kinds my relatives have described
to me (time-space and grapheme-color) were nothing I had experienced. But
today, watching a video about how synesthesia could develop, I had described to
me something I didn't realize wasn't a universal experience. As long as I can
remember, I have seen what people say as a scrolling line of Arial font text in
my minds eye, as well as "seeing" words I say inside my mouth. I even
see that typing blinking line thingy when I am figuring out what to say next!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March 9, 2025 at 11:31 PM
When I have asked people if they see words flash in front of
them when they hear them, they've looked at me like I was mentally unbalanced.
Thank you for this!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April 7, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I only recently had the 'aha' experience that not everyone
sees words in their mind. As a child, I had an amazing memory and read very
early, starting around 3 years. By 4, I was reading Little Golden books (I'm
53). I've always loved languages and can get by in 5 languages other than
English. I can easily spell any words in the languages I know, although if the
words are too long I have to write it down before it disappears. I don't get
different colors, but the words get larger the louder they are spoken.
When learning new words, I have to have it spelled to me or
I can't remember it. My son-in-law has a different accent than what I'm use to
when we speak Spanish, so I'm always asking him to spell things if my brain is
stuck. I also have a daughter who talks very fast and she knows the look on my
face when my brain can't keep up. She calls it my "deer in the headlights
look."
No one in my family has any idea of what I'm talking about,
lol The only person I know who has this is my stepdaughter. No blood relatives.
My stepdaughter is fluent in Spanish and says she sees words in different
colors depending on the language. She also read at a very early age.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: May 8, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I am fluent in American Sign Language and have subtitles for
the signs people make as well as the words they speak. Like many others, I only
recently learned that this is not normal. I often get irritated when someone
says a word that I don’t know how to spell and then I have to look it up or ask
them. I also am fond of big words and I love learning new ones. One thing that
irritates me very much is when subtitles are not in time with the person
speaking on a movie or show and when the subtitles are spelled wrong. My father
also has ticker tape synesthesia and is very good at spelling and always has
been. I also have mirror touch and number personification.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: May 26, 2025 at 4:56 AM
I too see words in front of me but up higher to the right in
space. I too thought that everyone did this as well until I attempted to learn
a Spanish and I tried to explain to the teacher that I could read and
understand the written word in Spanish but I was having a problem in hearing
and speaking the words because I couldn't see them like I did in my native
language. The teacher didn't understand or even try to understand. So out of
frustration I asked other students that were sitting next to me in class if
they saw their words in the upper space in front of them. None of them did. I
thought there was something wrong with me so I continued the course and willed
myself to not see words in space, ( I barely passed the course with a D- and
then I took the second semester and passed with a C-). That was when I was 19
and now I am 76. I can now see the words if I let them come forward. Two years
ago a friend told me about the term "ticker tape synesthesia" and was
relieved that I am not alone. Interesting note. I had a hearing test this year
and in the test I was instructed to say a word that I heard in a phrase. I
couldn't hear the word clearly to repeat what I heard but I found myself
automatically ticker taping possibilities and using the context of the phrase.
I am assuming that the part of my brain that uses ticker taping took over so
that I could pass that part of the hearing test and yet I really wasn't hearing
the words. I have a question, When did I and others begin seeing the printed
word? Since it is in a printed form wouldn't that be after gaining the ability
to read? If so how were we processing auditory and expressive language before
we were reading language? Side note - 1. my profession is in the visual arts 2.
one of my children was so visually strong that his visual mode of thinking
prevented him from hearing and speaking and it took years of language therapy
before he could speak and understand any verbal language. He thought that
others could see what he was seeing while he pointed to an empty wall or in his
empty cupped hands.
Comment by: Laura Barugel. Date: December 3, 2025 at
12:54 AM
Because I also speak Spanish and French, and understand
everything people are saying around me in the bus for example, makes me mad!
It’s infuriating that I just cannot stop this whenever I want: it starts and
ends when it wants to. If someone or people are speaking in an unknown language
to me, I will phonetically see whatever they’re saying like: meeheywah leywoh
jiang hua or whatever language they’re speaking and it goes on and on like a
dog barking: Woof Woof! Or a door going: Eeeeeeeeee or someone breathing
heavily Hhhhhhh hhhhhhhh hhhhhhh,
every Boom 💥 Pow 💥
is frustrating to me. Every noise and sound has a word. The worst is the radio 📻
when it’s Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah 😑
nonstop. I see every word and every breath and every laugh and cough and fart
and so eventually one day I went to see a Neurosurgeon but she said that
unfortunately we cannot operate my inner voice… And that itself is very
interesting… it’s a curse but in a way it’s part of me and who I am. I wonder
if there’s a cure out there. Sending hugs to my fellow synesthetes, let’s find
a way to use this shit and become millionaires! I’m sure that there’s a way to
profit from this “ condition “. 🩷
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: December 14, 2025 at
10:26 PM
Hi All, has anyone got acquired ticker tape? That is, you
didn’t have it, then after some event you did have it? Thanks!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January 26, 2026 at 3:20 AM
I have had this for years and until recently I didn’t know
there was a name for it, I just thought I was weird. I wasn’t a good student in
school and never made good grades but I was blessed with great spelling
abilities. When my kids were in school they always asked me how to spell words.
It wasn’t until years later while discussing with my family some forms of OCD
and other weird things we have that I told them about my ticker tape syndrome,
and at that time didn’t know that’s what is was called. I truly believe that’s
why I could always spell so good because I saw the word. I’m also lucky because
it’s not a full time thing, it pops up when it wants to. And now when my family
mentions it I experience it for at least a day. Kinda bad because your mind really
doesn’t rest. But I’m glad I finally found a name for it and now know that I’m
not the only one. And yes while typing this I saw the words way before I could
type them. Lol
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April 18, 2026 at 10:12 PM
This probably isn't the same thing at all, but I feel like
it's somewhat related. I have a fear of people reading my mind (kinda
embarrasing, but whatever) and a large part of that is because I imagine my
thoughts being projected into a box above my head. It only really happens when
I'm thinking 'bad' thoughts, otherwise my thoughts are inside my brain. Does
this count as ticker tape, or is there another name for it?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). Date: April 19, 2026 at 10:52 AM
This sounds different from ticker taping and I don't think
it would be considered as such. As to another name or explanation, maybe
earlier in your life you practised the “container method” of stopping intrusive
thoughts from bothering you, and you’ve retained the habit automatically since
then? Or you devised your own method of rapidly “storing away” negative
thoughts at some point, and you’ve continued doing that? I’m not knowledgeable
about this particular subject but those are a couple of things that occur to me
as a possible explanation. It might be something different of course!
Go back to the page on Ticker tape synesthesia
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