Internal Noise

Inner monologue and rumination: what research shows, and what this quiz measures

Produced by InnerlyTests using artificial intelligence, based on the sources listed at the end. The review is editorial and was also done with AI: no psychologist or other mental health professional has reviewed this content. Updated 2026-10-25. • About

If you came here wanting to know whether you have an inner voice, that silent way of talking to yourself, the honest answer has two parts. There is no online test that can reliably tell you whether you have an inner monologue. And Internal Noise doesn't measure that: it looks at the habit of going over the same thoughts (rumination) and at negative self-talk. This guide explains both.

Does everyone have an inner monologue?

Researchers use the term inner speech for the experience of thinking in words, as if you were talking inside, in your own voice but with no sound (Hurlburt and colleagues, 2013). People use it, for example, to plan, to rehearse what to say and also to ruminate, and it varies between people and across the life span (Alderson-Day and Fernyhough, 2015).

How often it shows up depends on how you ask. In a 1987 study using beeps at random times and a short questionnaire, about three quarters of the answers included an inner monologue. With Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES), Russell Hurlburt's method, which combines random beeps with detailed interviews, it shows up in about 20% to 25% of moments (figures summarized by Alderson-Day and Fernyhough, 2015). And the frequency varies widely from person to person (Heavey and Hurlburt, 2008).

Some people report having little or no inner speech, and Nedergaard and Lupyan (2024) proposed the name “anendophasia” for this. In their studies, people who reported little inner speech did worse on a verbal working memory task and at judging rhymes, but not on two other tasks they tested. The idea is debated: in a 2025 commentary, Lind concludes there is no compelling evidence that anyone has no inner speech at all. It is a name proposed in a research paper, not a diagnosis.

Inner speech feels like something you produce, not something you hear (Hurlburt and colleagues, 2013). Researchers also describe “inner hearing”: hearing something only in your imagination, such as another person's voice (Alderson-Day and Fernyhough, 2015). Hearing voices that other people can't hear, but that feel very real, is something else, with many possible causes, from stress to side effects of medicines. If this happens to you, the NHS, the UK's public health service, advises seeing a doctor right away, because early treatment can be more effective.

Can you test whether you have an inner voice?

Not in any simple way. Research questionnaires don't always agree with one another, and DES findings sometimes contradict questionnaires; even DES is debated, because the interview may shape what people report (Alderson-Day and Fernyhough, 2015). A quiz with a few questions can't settle this.

If you're curious, watch without hurrying: at a few moments during the day, notice what was in your mind just a second before. This is only inspired by the sampling idea, it isn't the scientific method, and there is no right answer. DES studies keep finding five common experiences; in one of them, with 30 college students, each came up in about a quarter of moments (Heavey and Hurlburt, 2008):

• Inner speech: words spoken inside.
• Inner seeing: pictures in your imagination.
• Unsymbolized thinking: a clear thought with no words, images or other symbols.
• Feelings.
• Sensory awareness: attention to some sensation.

What Internal Noise measures, and what it doesn't

Internal Noise is a self-reflection quiz with 4 questions: how your mind reacts to a small mistake, how loud anxious thoughts are, whether you keep reliving the past, and what your mind is like at rest. It does not detect an inner monologue. It isn't adapted from a scientific questionnaire and hasn't been validated, and we set where each result range begins. What it gives you is a snapshot of right now.

And it hasn't been shown that ruminating depends on thinking in words. Rumination is often described that way, but studies haven't always checked this, and in a study cited by Alderson-Day and Fernyhough (2015), people with mild or moderate depression reported auditory, visual or bodily qualities in their repetitive thoughts. That's why the questions ask about the habit of returning to the same thoughts, not about their form.

Thinking a problem through, or ruminating?

Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, who developed response styles theory, described rumination as passively and repeatedly focusing on your own distress and the circumstances around it (as cited by Watkins, 2008). In a 2008 review, she and her colleagues bring together evidence that rumination makes depression worse, feeds negative thinking, gets in the way of problem solving and wears down social support. Rumination is also linked to anxiety.

But going back to something isn't always harmful. In a review published in Psychological Bulletin, Watkins (2008) shows that repetitive thought can also help people recover from upsetting events and plan ahead. One important factor is whether the thinking is abstract or concrete:

• Rumination tends to circle around “why did this happen?” and “what does it mean?”. More useful thinking asks “what happened, step by step?” and “what do I do now?”.
• In a study cited by Watkins (2008), abstract questions (“why did this problem happen?”) made social problem solving worse in people who had recovered from depression, and concrete questions about how to proceed reduced that difficulty in people who were depressed.

What may help turn the volume down

There is no recipe, and what helps one person may not help another. These ideas come from studies of specific groups and situations, and none of them is a cure:

• Swap “why” for “how”: when you notice you're ruminating, describe in concrete terms what happened and what the next step could be.
• Write concretely. In an experiment cited by Watkins (2008), after a failure set up in the lab, people more prone to getting stuck on their thoughts were in a worse mood 12 hours later only if they had written in an abstract way (“why did I feel this way?”), not if they had described how they felt, moment by moment.
• Take a break with something that holds your attention. Dozens of experiments show that positive distractions relieve low mood in the moment, although correlational studies don't always confirm this (Nolen-Hoeksema and colleagues, 2008).
• Mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy. In a review of 19 studies, mindfulness-based and cognitive behavioral interventions may be effective in reducing rumination and worry, online or face to face (Querstret and Cropley, 2013).

When the noise gets too heavy

Everyone goes back over things sometimes. Talk to a psychologist or a doctor if repetitive thoughts take up much of your days, keep you from sleeping, weigh on your work or relationships, or arrive together with sadness, loss of interest or hopelessness that won't go away. Internal Noise can't make that assessment for you.

There are treatments with evidence behind them. A 2025 meta-analysis of 55 randomized controlled trials with almost 5,000 participants found a moderate effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on repetitive negative thinking, compared with control groups, and a larger effect for approaches aimed at this pattern (Stenzel and colleagues, 2025; a 2026 correction revised how treatments were classified, without changing the conclusions).

If the noise comes with thoughts of hurting yourself or ending your life, or a sense that you are not safe, ask for help now: from someone you trust who is nearby, from your local emergency services, or from an emotional support line in your country. Asking for help at that moment is not an overreaction. This site does not provide medical or psychological care, and nobody reads your answers.

Sources

1. Alderson-Day, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Inner speech: Development, cognitive functions, phenomenology, and neurobiology. Psychological Bulletin, 141(5), 931–965. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000021
2. Hurlburt, R. T., Heavey, C. L., & Kelsey, J. M. (2013). Toward a phenomenology of inner speaking. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(4), 1477–1494. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2013.10.003
3. Heavey, C. L., & Hurlburt, R. T. (2008). The phenomena of inner experience. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(3), 798–810. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2007.12.006
4. Nedergaard, J. S. K., & Lupyan, G. (2024). Not everybody has an inner voice: Behavioral consequences of anendophasia. Psychological Science, 35(7), 780–797. DOI: 10.1177/09567976241243004
5. Lind, A. (2025). Are there really people with no inner voice? Commentary on Nedergaard and Lupyan (2024). Psychological Science, 36(9), 765–767. DOI: 10.1177/09567976251335583
6. NHS (2023). Psychosis: Overview [reviewed 5 Sep 2023]. Accessed 25 Oct 2026.
7. Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163–206. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163
8. Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400–424. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x
9. Querstret, D., & Cropley, M. (2013). Assessing treatments used to reduce rumination and/or worry: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(8), 996–1009. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.08.004
10. Stenzel, K. L., Keller, J., Kirchner, L., Rief, W., & Berg, M. (2025). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry – a transdiagnostic meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 55, e31. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291725000017
11. Stenzel, K. L., Keller, J., Kirchner, L., Rief, W., & Berg, M. (2026). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry – a transdiagnostic meta-analysis – Corrigendum. Psychological Medicine, 56, e31. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291726103304

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