Originally Posted by
godslave
It's automatic to me to hear a voice when I'm reading. The thing is, that it's never my voice ! For instance, when I read posts in this forum, I automatically (and subcounsciously I guess) assign an imaginary and yet suitable voice to the the forum member's avatar. I don't like it when there is no avatar because It obviously doesn't give a clue about the "vibe" the forum member wants to convey. I would have in this case, to rely only on the writing style.
Now, what about the members who posted video of themselves ? Obviously, in this case reality imposes itself upon imagination and the real voice will permanently replace its imaginary one for better or worse. What about when the picture is more abstract or is a natural representation ? In this case I'll go by my impression. It might for instance evoque an era in time when our language was a bit different and so the voice in my head would adapt to that etc..
I just want to add that voices have always been a theme in my life. It's a unique part of ourselves like fingerprints and retinal patterns. For instance, when I watch a dubbed movie, series or an anime, I like to identify voice dubbing artists (and I like even more to see what the dubbing artist looks like !) It's like a game "Who's voice is it ?" I used to play with my siblings along with the "Who does she/he look like ?" one. In general, I always notice what makes a person unique and it's not only physical stuff of course.