Introduction

‘Voices of the Mind’ is a public engagement project exploring inner speech - the internal dialogue we have with our minds.

We aim to empower young people aged 14-18 from diverse backgrounds with knowledge about their inner experiences, create interdisciplinary dialogue between science and art, reduce stigma around different thought patterns, and make neuroscience accessible to those traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.

Our project brings together scientists, artists, and young people to explore how our brains generate inner thoughts, how technology can help us understand these processes, and how creative expression can illuminate our internal experiences.

Phenomenological accounts from workshop participants describing what their thinking actually feels like.

A track composed by Charlie Brown from voice recordings gathered in the workshops:

Try VoiceScape →

Charlie Brown built a physical launchpad installation that debuted at our events, but you know, not everyone gets to play. I therefore translated the idea into this web app so anyone can explore it from home.

What is this?

Shall we call it a voice jammer? You can play pre-recorded words and phrases describing young people’s inner voices over Charlie’s background track using your keyboard or a mobile tap grid. To make it yours, you can also record your own words and phrases and bind them to keys for you to play. The app will also enable you to download an MP3 of your composition locally.

Your voice recordings and MP3 composition exports are stored on your device only – nothing is uploaded anywhere (I don’t have money to pay for servers)

The app asks for your feedback after each play and asks for one-time, non-identifying demographic information to help us understand our visitors.

Artist Credits: Background music by Charlie Brown. Voice clips recorded by Alice Evans from workshop participants’ transcripts.

Sixth-form students and first-year university students from across the UK took part in two hands-on workshops. Most arrived knowing little or nothing about inner speech research.

Where our participants come from