Hearing voices is an important aspect of many people’s lives. It is an experience that can be distressing and upsetting, but also positive and meaningful.
We seek to provide a better understanding of this experience by examining it from different academic perspectives and working with voice-hearers, clinicians and mental health professionals.
About Us
Hearing the Voice is a large interdisciplinary study of voice-hearing, based at Durham University and funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Our international research team includes academics from anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, history, linguistics, literary studies, medical humanities, philosophy, psychology and theology. We also work closely with clinicians, voice-hearers and other experts by experience.
In addition to shedding light on the relations between hearing voices and everyday processes of sensory perception, memory, language and creativity, we are exploring why it is that some voices (and not others) are experienced as distressing, how they can change across the life course, and the ways in which voices can act as important social, cultural and political forces.
Find Out More
HEARING VOICES
VISIT OUR EXHIBITION
UNDERSTANDING VOICES
VISIT OUR NEW SITE FOR THOSE WHO HEAR VOICES, THEIR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS, AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Highlights from the Blog
Living with Voices: Should we make an app for young people who hear voices?
Back in 2018 we launched a new website, Understanding Voices (UV), to help support people who hear voices and their loved ones. We now have a chance to apply for funds to develop an app for young people who hear voices. If you’re aged 16–25 with personal experience of hearing voices, we’d love to hear what you think an app of this type should look like.
Understanding Voices: New resources in ten languages!
Our ‘Quick Read’ information fact sheets about hearing voices have now been translated into the top 10 languages other than English spoken in the UK, including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simple Chinese), French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Punjabi, Spanish, and Urdu.
Keep in Touch
If you would like to keep up to date with the progress of Hearing the Voice research and receive information about forthcoming events and activities, sign up for our bi-monthly e-bulletin.
