When Your Inner Voice Plays Tricks: The Brain Glitch Behind Hearing Voices

Do you ever chat with yourself in your head? Most of us do. But what if your brain mistakes that inner whisper for an external voice?

Psychologists at UNSW Sydney recently published the clearest evidence yet that auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia may come from a misfire in the brain’s prediction system. Normally, when you imagine saying a word, your auditory cortex dampens its response because it predicts the sound of your own voice. In healthy volunteers wearing EEG caps, brain activity dropped when their inner speech matched a sound they heard.

In people who hear voices, the opposite happened: their brains ramped up activity when the imagined syllable matched the external sound, as if someone else were speaking. This reversal suggests a glitch in the brain’s ability to recognize inner speech, causing thoughts to be misinterpreted as external voices.

What does this mean? 🔍 It provides biological backing to a theory that’s been around for decades. If inner speech is misidentified, the voices feel real. The study divided participants into three groups - those with recent auditory hallucinations, those without, and healthy individuals. The first group showed the strongest brain reaction to inner speech, the second showed an intermediate pattern, and the healthy group showed suppression.

Mysterious teaser🧩: Imagine wearing glasses that flip the world upside down. At first, nothing makes sense. Over time, your brain adapts. But for some people with schizophrenia, the brain never fully adapts when it comes to distinguishing self from other. Understanding this glitch could lead to early biomarkers for psychosis and, eventually, targeted interventions.

Your mind’s narrator is powerful. If you or someone you love experiences voices, know that it’s not a character flaw. Science is unraveling the wiring behind these experiences, and with knowledge comes hope.

Reference: University of New South Wales study on inner speech and auditory hallucinations (ScienceDaily, 23 Jan 2026).