# Can you hear in your dreams?



## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

I cannot. I tend to have the most fantastic dreams (creative mind go figure right?) but unfortunately I can never hear anything that's going on.  When someone is talking to me in a dream it's all garble.  I never thought much about it, but other people claim they can hear stuff in their dreams so it made me wonder how common it was.

How about the rest of you?

Dawn


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Weird! I never knew some people couldn't hear in their dreams. I definitely can. I even wake up sometimes with music stuck in my head from my dreams (usually totally nonsensical or occasionally real songs I've heard before).


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

I had to think about it, and for me at least the answer is no. What happens is that I 'hear' with the same 'tone' of voice with which I think, more-or-less.

I don't doubt that some people do hear in their dreams, though. I have also come across the assertion that it is "impossible" to read anything in a dream. I have read in a dream twice that I remember. Having said that, I moved toward wakefulness at that moment. I guess that the part of the brain used for reading is incompatible with sleep.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Chris Northern said:


> I had to think about it, and for me at least the answer is no. What happens is that I 'hear' with the same 'tone' of voice with which I think, more-or-less.
> 
> I don't doubt that some people do hear in their dreams, though. I have also come across the assertion that it is "impossible" to read anything in a dream. I have read in a dream twice that I remember. Having said that, I moved toward wakefulness at that moment. I guess that the part of the brain used for reading is incompatible with sleep.


Oh hey, I just tried to read in a dream last night! I had a dream that one of my friends from high school sent me a book to read over for him and I discovered he wrote about me, so I was scanning the pages, looking for my name. I might have woken up right after that, though, and the book was really nonsensical (the words kept changing, so I had trouble finding my name. It would be there one moment, then vanish). I think perhaps that is true, that reading is incompatible with sleep.


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## bobavey (Sep 14, 2010)

Yes, I hear in my dreams. My dream-people often talk, and sometimes I listen.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

Wow! What a revelation. I had no idea that some people _couldn't_ hear in their dreams. Every dream that I remember has had sound. Like Jessica, I often wake up with the soundtrack of my dream repeating in my head.


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

No, I don't hear in my dreams.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

How odd. I always hear fine in my dreams. *Shrug*


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## Joel Arnold (May 3, 2010)

I hear in my dreams. I wonder if I can smell things in my dreams? Never really thought of that before...


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## KerylR (Dec 28, 2010)

Cool question.  I can see, touch, and hear, but I can't smell or taste.  

Smell makes sense, I have a very limited sense of smell in real life.

Taste is odd.  I often dream of eating, but don't actually taste the food.  I just know I liked it.

Also, Dawn, your avatar cover is looking much, much better.


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## Coral Moore (Nov 29, 2009)

Hmm, now that I'm really thinking about it, I'm not sure I've ever eaten anything in a dream. I can definitely smell, but I'm not sure about taste.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

When I am dreaming, all the senses that are important to the dream seem to work in my dreams. If I am talking with someone then I hear their words in their voice. Each person will have their own voice. If I am outside at an airport I will hear the engines as the plane I was trying to catch takes off. I don't think I hear background noises unless they are important. Sometimes real sounds are incorporated into my dreams. This causes problems when my morning alarm becomes part of my dream. This usually results in DH shaking me awake.   
I have dreamed that I was reading. However if I wake up, the page turns to gibberish. This is one of the situations where I cannot go back to sleep to continue the dream. The page or book becomes unreadable or disappears. For example, I have dreamed about taking tests and answering the questions. If I wake up, that is the end of the test. There have also been times when I cannot read specific things in my dreams. If I dream I am working in the Dairy Queen again then I cannot read the current prices. I do not know if this is because I need to be frustrated in the dream or because I do not know the current prices. I do not know if I am really reading, dreaming I am reading or remembering reading.


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## thejosh86 (Mar 1, 2011)

It's rare for me to ever remember my dreams, but when I do I'm pretty sure I was able to hear.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Yes, and I dream in colour too.  When I was at Uni I was in a PhD research project that reviewed right and left handedness, and dreaming in colour.  Somehow they are related.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Not only can I hear in my dreams, I often revisit places from previous dreams. 
It's not really a reoccuring dream because it is not the same each time, but the setting is the same.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

I can hear in my dreams, but I can't read.  And even weirder, I can't dial a telephone.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

scarlet said:


> I can hear in my dreams, but I can't read. And even weirder, I can't dial a telephone.


Probably because your phone no longer has a dial. Just pushbuttons twin.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Pushka, did you find out how they were related? What about people who are ambidextrous or nearly so?


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> Probably because your phone no longer has a dial. Just pushbuttons twin.


You know, I was wondering WHO would comment on the word "dial"....

Okay, I cannot correctly input a telephone number in my dreams. And don't get me started on the bizarre things elevators do. Star Trek's got nothing on my dream elevators.

Sigh... nightmares tonight, i'm sure.


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## Jennybeanses (Jan 27, 2011)

Sometimes I can, and sometimes I can't. I've had really vivid, meaningful conversations in dreams where there was no sound. Only thoughts between myself and the other person I was communicating with in my dream.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Annalog said:


> Pushka, did you find out how they were related? What about people who are ambidextrous or nearly so?


No, never heard the results. My dad and brother are both very left handed and I am mainly right handed but I do some things left handed. Seems I have a bit of both! From memory, left handed people dreamt in colour.

I cant scream in dreams.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

Hi Dawn,

Intriguing question.  Yes, I do hear, many times music.  I remember a dream so beautiful that I woke up to recall that I was dreaming about a band of of dogs singing (it's true!).  

I wonder which goes off first when we are very tired: probably, sound 1st, then color, then the dreams themselves, perhaps.

Gabriela


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## Krimson (Jan 5, 2011)

Oh definitely. Sometimes I hear the most amazing music and then lament not being able to remember it when I wake up.

Sent from my GT-P1000M using Tapatalk


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## Carol R (Feb 26, 2011)

What an interesting question! Yes I can hear in my dreams. I have also dreamt in German and French even though I'm not fluent. I had to use a dictionary to figure out what it all meant. I put that stuff in my book, btw.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

T.L. Haddix said:


> Scarlet, I can't dial either. I do mean dial - because oftentimes I'll dream about my grandparents' phone, which was a dial-type. I get so frustrated because I keep having to start over, but I can never get that number right.


Oooh, I hate that! That definitely happens to me in dreams as well. Occasionally I'll manage to get connected to someone, but it's never who I wanted to dial.

I do remember tasting in a dream a long time ago, where I had a piece of chocolate. I remember thinking the dream was trying to even things out because the previous night, I dreampt that I broke my arm and it hurt very badly. Chocolate appeases me, obviously.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

I've often had a dream where my alarm clock is going off. I turn it off but it won't stop.  I unplug it, but it won't stop.  I break it,but it won't stop.  I'm trying everything to get it to stop, but it just keeps beeping. This goes on for  5-10 minutes.  Then I wake up to find that my alarm clock really IS going off and it worked it's way into my dream.


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## busy_91 (Feb 22, 2011)

The more I hear about how others dream, the more I realize that we all dream differently.
Yes I hear, talk (sometimes in a foreign language) and I also dream in color.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

metal134 said:


> I've often had a dream where my alarm clock is going off. I turn it off but it won't stop. I unplug it, but it won't stop. I break it,but it won't stop. I'm trying everything to get it to stop, but it just keeps beeping. This goes on for 5-10 minutes. Then I wake up to find that my alarm clock really IS going off and it worked it's way into my dream.


that happens to me if my radio is on. i go nuts in my dream trying to find the noise and stop it, but can't. then I wake up and it's 1010 WINS!


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

Krimson said:


> Oh definitely. Sometimes I hear the most amazing music and then lament not being able to remember it when I wake up.


That must be frustrating. I often laugh in my sleep, I'm told. The only time I laughed so hard that I woke myself up enough to remember the dream, what had started me laughing was the name of an alien. I can't say the name as I might get round to using it sometime. Very funny name. Still makes me laugh. Wish I woke up laughing more often, _enough to remember what I was laughing at._


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Completely fascinating thread! I hear in my dreams--I have lots of conversations with people. I haven't given much thought to tasting and smelling, though. (Or reading.)

And I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with dreams where you can't make a stupid phone call. I'm sure for me those dreams are related to stress or something, but they're so frustrating.


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## William Campbell (Feb 11, 2010)

Yes, I can hear, at least people talking. I've had a number of dreams in which I show up somewhere and certain people get alarmed, and say (I can still hear it clearly), "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here," and more to the effect that I'm supposed to be subdued during this "dreaming state," not roaming around learning their secrets (still can't say who 'they' are). I rarely choose to be subdued, rather take the opportunity to play.

I can read in my dreams and have brought back things from signs and billboards before, writing them down when I wake. Sometimes they are mundane (like real life) and other times odd phrases that still defy explanation.

I have also heard music and lyrics before, and once waking, jotted down the words based on the melody. But I couldn't write the tune since I'm not a musician (at least, this lifetime).

I also dream in color, smell, taste, and particularly, kinetic motion. Most of all, the sensation of falling, and it's like Inception (the movie) -- it makes me wake up. If it's just tripping on my own toes (perhaps a fair definition of a dream Ha!) and I recover from stumbling, I'll keep dreaming, but if I fall off a cliff or tall building, before impact the dream will end. I guess that goes with any death scenario played out in dreams. If a sword goes through me or a bullet pierces my skull, dream over.

Here's another question: ever have a dream within a dream? Like you're dreaming, then you wake up, but really, you're still dreaming. Then you wake up again, and start getting frustrated because of the fear you can't escape, and you've come to the realization -- _while_ dreaming -- that you are dreaming.

Or how about this: wake up for real but don't get out of bed. Maybe look at the clock and think there's time to sleep in, and go back to resume the dream you were having, right where you left off, like pressing pause on the VCR. Ever do that? Freakin' weird, but awesome when it's a dream you like. Terrible if a nightmare. ARRGGGGHHHH! The boogeyman is chasing me!

I think of dreams as the mind's playground. The body gets tired and has to sleep. And lacking input from reality, the mind only gets bored...

Cool topic.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

I have dreamed within a dream a couple times but it was when I was young.

I have frequently woken, gone back to sleep, and then resumed the dream I was dreaming. However I have found that if I turn over to my other side before going back to sleep then I cannot resume a normal dream. For a few bad nightmares I have had to get up for a while to prevent the dream from returning.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

I dream in color, revisit places I've dreamed of before and read short messages or numbers in my dreams.  I can't even imagine hearing music in my dreams, that's pretty neat.  

Thanks Keryl! I'm very happy with the revised cover.

Hi Gabriela   

Dawn


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Very interesting thread this one. I had to think about this a bit. I think I do hear, but what is interesting in my case is, I dream in english. This started a bit after I moved here to the US. I stopped dreaming in my language which was german. Its all english now as far as I can tell. I wonder when my brain turned, I can't pinpoint exactly the moment that happened. 

I have quite vivid dreams, the kind where it takes me a while to realize I am dreaming. I also have a lot of in between stages, where I kind of know I am dreaming, but can't wake up. I wake up sometimes from dreams when they are very intense. I don't remember much of the non intense dreams I have. 

But the language thing always fascinated me.


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

Count me among the hearing!


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## Indy (Jun 7, 2010)

I hear, but often it is a song that I can't get out of my head, that provides something like repetitious background noise to the dream.  The loop-style dreams are the worst and I have those if I have done something too much and wind up exhausted.  For example, I played too much everquest and once I dreamed of a constant loop involving my little gnome running trains in and out of Unrest, each time including Torklar Battlemaster, never going to the basement, and all of it to the tune of "crazy train."  

Since that night I haven't been back to Unrest in EQ.  There were some similar crap dreams like that with WoW as well but they were not as memorable.  Once I had the song Thunder Road on my mind and I dreamed that I was in church, the preacher was preaching from a Kindle, not a bible, and his whole farkin' sermon consisted of the words to the song.  I was very worried that in his enthusiasm he was going to crack the screen on his kindle.  And I now really dislike the song.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

scarlet said:


> And don't get me started on the bizarre things elevators do. Star Trek's got nothing on my dream elevators.


I dream about elevators all the time. Mine go in all sorts of directions and speeds. Maybe we're in the same ones, I'll look for you next I dream one.

I dream in colour, I hear sound. I _know_ I can smell & taste because since I gave up smoking I have vivid dreams where I've just smoked a cigarette and I can taste it and smell the smoke!


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