Inner speech
The brain normally tags our own inner voice as self-generated; when that tagging slips, thoughts can feel as if they come from outside.
Never tested separately
Clairaudience
Clairaudience is the claimed ability of hearing voices or sounds beyond ordinary hearing. It has never been tested as a distinct ability.
- Status
- Never tested separately
- Key test
- None never tested on its own
Studies and word histories as set out below.
What people describe
Clairaudience, or "clear hearing", is described as hearing messages, voices, music or sounds that others cannot — sometimes externally, more often as a distinct inner voice that feels separate from ordinary thought.
How it entered the record
Voices that guide or warn appear throughout history: Socrates spoke of a daimonion that warned him against mistakes, and Joan of Arc said she was directed by the voices of saints. Spiritualist mediums from the nineteenth century onward described clairaudience as one of their main channels.
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The experiment
Clairaudience has never been tested on its own
How it was run
Same problem as clairsentience: scoring is by correctness, not by channel.
Sample
—
Result
Untested as a distinct ability.
Hearing a voice with no one there is common in ordinary life. A 2011 review by Beavan, Read and Cartwright gathered 17 general-population surveys from nine countries; the median share of people who had heard voices was 13.2%, or about one in eight.
So the experience needs no special explanation. The claim is narrower: that a voice carries information the listener had no way to obtain. That question has never been put to an experiment. Not disproven, then, but never asked properly.
Claim
Hearing voices or sounds beyond ordinary hearing
Word from
French clair "clear" + Latin audire "to hear"
Status
Never tested separately
Where the word comes from
Nineteenth century, alongside clairvoyance.
From the 19th century to today, nobody has tested whether a heard voice carries information the hearer could not know; 8 of the 11 claims have at least one key test.
What psychology offers instead
Hypnagogic experiences
Hearing one's name called or voices while falling asleep or waking is common and harmless.
Auditory pareidolia
The brain finds words and voices in fans, running water and white noise.
How to test it fairly yourself
If messages contain information, write them down with the date before checking whether they prove true, and count every message. Distressing or commanding voices are a reason to talk to a doctor — hearing voices is common, and help is effective.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Clairaudience: The Claim, the Experiment and the Result.” Accessed October 30, 2026. https://astrohot.com/psychic/clairaudience/
For Wikipedia
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