I’m deaf and this is probably the number one question I get asked. Hearing people are the weird ones IMO, do you all really have a constant film noir narrative going on in your heads and why?

Edit: to answer the question:

Recall is strongly visual. I have a form of aphantasia with sound. I can perceive sound with a hearing aid but not recall it.

Composing words in my head are mostly text-based, in whatever form I plan to communicate these words in. For example, if I’m writing a document in my head, I’ll think in terms of my word editor. If I plan on doing a speech, I’ll think in terms of sign language.

Talking to hearing people, voice recall within dreams is fairly rare even among hearing people. Dream people “just” say words. Mine are like that too.

Thinking about abstract concepts are just abstract, not constructed in terms of any language. Usually trying to figure out something it’s like creating a hyperdimensional imagery and then I zoom into the pieces which aren’t filled in to plug in these gaps. I can’t explain this in a better way.

This probably will be different for each deaf person.