Clairaudience (psychic hearing) is one of the “core four” psychic abilities (it also happens to be one of my favorites!)
People with clairaudience connect with their intuition through hearing. For example, they may get a message to call grandma while they’re busy shopping for produce, or waiting in the drop off line.
Understanding and developing clairaudience is a big topic, so I’ve broken up this article into a fun, four-part series. (You’ll find links to the other articles at the end of this post.)
What is Clairaudience?
Before we deep-dive into this ability, let’s get crystal clear on what it is.
Clairaudience comes from the French words clair (clear), and audience (the action of hearing). Put them together and you’ve got clear hearing.
In more practical terms:
Clairaudience is a special psychic ability that allows you to connect with your intuition via hearing.
Someone with clairaudience might hear sounds, words, divine messages, or music.
But don’t worry; it’s never creepy!
How does clairaudience sound?
Clairaudience is usually heard internally, in your mind, in your own voice — like when you are thinking about your grocery list.
Those in the spirit world no longer have a physical body, so they don’t need a physical ‘voice’ to connect with you. It’s all done telepathically!
This may lead you to wonder how you can tell the difference between a clairaudient message and a ‘regular’ thought… Actually it’s not hard, and we’ll get to that in a second.
Tip: Sometimes, you can experience clairaudience with your regular (external) hearing, but it’s super rare.
How to Know You’re Clairaudient
Anyone can develop psychic hearing.
For some, it will be their dominant psychic ability; for others, clairvoyance, clairsentience, or claircognizance may be stronger.
No matter what ability you find yourself leaning toward, go with it! You are being called there for a reason.
Psychic hearing may be one of your intuitive gifts if you:
- Love music. You need to listen to music every day, because it helps you feel calm and connected to your soul.
- Are an auditory learner. If you learn best through listening, or prefer to listen to an audiobook than read one, it’s a sign you’re clairaudient.
- Have noise sensitivity. Are you sensitive to sound or feel drained when there is too much noise around you?
- Hear occasional ringing in your ears. A high-pitched sound (without medical reason) is a great sign that your Spirit Guides are around! Pretty cool, right?
- Talk to yourself. If you spend a lot of time thinking or talking to yourself, you may be channeling inner wisdom without even realizing it!
Keep in mind, you don’t have to have all these traits to be clairaudient. I only have the last three traits, but intuitive hearing is still one of my strongest abilities. Read the 11 Surefire Signs You’re Clairaudient.
Tip: Clairaudience is super helpful to develop if you want to give intuitive readings to others. It’s also an amazing gift to access your own inner wisdom for guidance!
Even if you don’t have every psychic clair, you can still learn to go on and give readings with your dominant ability!
Where Do Clairaudient Messages Come From?
Through psychic hearing, you can receive guidance, and even have a two-way communication with your spiritual helpers!
When you’re just starting out, you may wonder who your spiritual helpers are, and who is connecting with you through your intuition.
These messages come from three main sources:
- Your Spirit Guides
- Someone you know who has passed away
- Your Higher Self
As you strengthen your clairaudience, you’ll learn to tell if the message is from your Spirit Guide or your late Aunt Jen.
You’ll also start to get a sense of why you’re getting an intuitive nudge.
4 Ways You Can Receive Clairaudient Messages
So, if clairaudient messages sound like your voice, and aren’t creepy, how can you tell when you’re receiving one?
Don’t worry, you don’t have to analyze every thought you have wondering if it’s an intuitive message!
Here are four signs that it’s an intuitive message:
1. You hear your own voice in your head
Clairaudient messages sound like yourself. Spirit always has your highest good in mind, so your intuition won’t scare you or sound creepy.
The best way to distinguish intuitive messages from your own thinking, is to note the timing.
For example, if I’m brushing my teeth and thinking about my schedule when I suddenly have a memory of my grandfather in heaven – I know he is communicating with me telepathically. Why? Because it’s a completely different thought from the one I was having. It’s also heard internally, and it’s uplifting. See how subtle clairaudient experiences can be?
Once you’ve worked on developing clairaudience for awhile, you will be able to differentiate between your own voice and the voice of Spirit, too.
For example, if I’m doing a mediumship reading and my client’s Uncle Joe is communicating with me via my clairaudience, I don’t hear the voice Uncle Joe had while he was alive. I hear him in my voice, in my head.
Think of it as a telepathic way of communicating.
2. Sounds
You may also hear sounds, words, or music in your mind that have literal or symbolic meanings.
On rare occasions, you may also hear these sounds externally with your regular hearing – without a source for the sound.
For example, one day, my massage therapist and I began hearing the most beautiful music, but there was no one else in the building and no radios around!
Imagine how cool it would be if that happened all the time. We’d save a fortune on iTunes!
3. The voice of spirit
Most mediums hear spirit telepathically in their own voice. But sometimes, the voice of spirit will sound like it did while they were living.
The first time this happened to me I could distinctly hear my friend’s sister in spirit saying the name John. It was amazing! I was able to describe her voice and the way she pronounced her words.
These types of clairaudient experiences are positive and not scary.
4. Clairaudient warnings
If your spirit team needs to get your attention pronto, you may hear a clairaudient warning out loud.
This phenomena is not meant to be scary, but can be startling. (But believe me, if your spiritual team protects you by yelling “STOP”, you’ll be super thankful they did!)
How to Develop Clairaudience
When you start on your intuitive journey, you may notice that some of your gifts unfold more easily than others.
This is totally normal. Let yourself relax, and go with the flow!
That said, it’s easy to develop your psychic hearing… once you know how.
All it requires is practice, the right guidance, and the desire to connect with your inner wisdom.
Simple, right?
The quickest way to start developing clairaudience is to practice sensitizing your hearing. This works because as you train yourself to hear more in the physical world, it will be easier for you to pick up sounds from the spirit world.
Let’s try it right now. If you can:
- Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
- Set the intention that you want to increase your psychic hearing.
- Relax your body, and let your hearing be your dominant sense.
- Now, tune into sounds that you don’t normally focus on: the refrigerator humming, your own breathing, the drums in your favorite song.
- Breathe and listen.
Practicing this exercise for 10 minutes a day will strengthen your intuitive hearing!
Ready for more? Continue reading the series
Takeaways from this article:
- Spirit communicates telepathically, so clairaudience is usually experienced in your mind, with your inner ear. It sounds like when you are reading to yourself, but you may also hear things like music or the voice of spirit.
- Clairaudience can be external, too, though this is not common. When this happens, it’s often because your spiritual team needs to get you an important message, such as “look out,” ASAP!
I have seen a few mediums in my time and they have all always told me that im extremely sensitive and should open myself up. But it scares me.
I often here voices when I’m at my most relaxed state which is when I’m in bed just before I fall asleep. There have been times when I have had a full out conversation with “someone” in my head asking them questions on their life. I was always freaked out of this. For a long time I slept with a pillow on my head a fan going and music on because it freaked me out. but just reading some of your blog posts have actually brought some light and hopefully will help me to over come Alot of anxieties I have.
Oh good, I’m so glad you found it helpful. :) When we’re in a relaxed state (such as just falling asleep), our vibration rises, and we are in a state of allowing. So that’s why this is happening to you mostly at bed time. For this reason, I sleep with the t.v. on (but I know most doctors disagree with sleeping with the t.v. on – but it works for mediums!). As far as opening up yourself more – if you feel called to do so, you should go for it. Honestly, there is nothing to be afraid of. But if you’re not called to do so, you definitely don’t have to. Remember, it’s always your choice :) Lots of love, Jessica
I can relate to this. It happens all the time, ever since I was very young but, never knew what it meant.
I’m so glad I found this blog! I had a question about hearing. When I hear paranormal sounds, music, voices, etc. I hear them not with my mind or ears. I hear it somewhere in between. It’s hard to explain. But it’s in between mind and physical hearing. Do you know if other people experience this? And I know you said we don’t do scary here, but I seem to hear more negative spirits or energies rather than positive. How do I control my automatic fear towards these occurrences. I’ve been sleeping with my tv on at night for 5 or more years now because of this fear. Thank you so much for the great info in this post :).
I’m glad you found it helpful Ashlee :) Yes, a lot of people experience clairaudience in the way you are describing. It’s normal, for sure. As for the negative spirits, I would bet they aren’t really negative. To help overcome your fear, you want to start trying to have a new perspective. You could start by doing some research – it can TOTALLY change your mindset. If I were you, I’d take a few minutes and look at YouTube… search Esther Hicks “hauntings”, “spirits”, etc. You’ll find some wonderful, uplifting insight about the topic. Remember: Spirit is from the light. Take a look at the psychic protection methods I have on this blog, also. It’s another great place to start letting go of fear. These should help: Psychic Protection, The Real Reason You Need Psychic Protection, Are You Ever Afraid of Spirits? Lots of love, Jessica
I can read emotional things, that people say about me. I read a man thru a glass windows, it was if he was standing in front of me. It’s only when they say emotional things about me. People call me crazy, my hears burn when people talk about me, right ear is good, left is bad things need help. Ariel is my emotional angel.
Hey Kim! Sounds like you are super empathic. I think it’s awesome that you have Divine support in Ariel :)
I’m sensitive to others emotions and dislike being around people’s negativity. At night when I close my eyes I often have flashing visions before falling asleep. It could be a persons face, or place, or an event occurring. I don’t recognize any any of the people or places…have you heard of this happening to others?
Sure have :) It happens when your clairvoyance opens up.
Thank you Jessica !!! i am so glad I found this site :) I have been searching for a way to hone my clairaudient gift. The voice I hear is strong, and i wonder if other spiritual guides can communicate with us as well. I have had a few very jarring experiences where I heard multiple voices at once. This has only happened when my outcome was not what was needed, but a better outcome that affected multiple people.
Hello there! Looking through all of the articles here I’ve began to wonder it I’ve had this clairaudient gift for my whole life. I used to play card games with an “imaginary friend” even though I knew physically no one was there I still felt like I was playing with someone. I think my first occurrence that opened my eyes was a time I heard someone call my name. No one was home. A second big thing that happened while lying in bed I was so worried about the things I was doing. All of a suddent it was like there was a bolt of lightening or crack in air that I could hear and a stern man’s voice said, “I can hear you.” I will never forget that. I’m very excited to finally put a name on this gift as I’ve been having more and more occurrences with my second pregnancy. Just like the first I would see images of a baby girl. Her name popped in my head righy away and I just knew she would be a girl and what she wanted to be named. I strongly feel this pregnancy associated with a boy. I’ve had countless dreams of seeing him. I even had a dream I was able to see his newborn body and opened his diaper just to settle my doubts! It’s a boy alright!! I have been having some fears with this pregnancy hoping nothing would go wrong. I’d start to feel kicks and I would have dreams reassuring me….which brings me to my last input. Two nights ago my right ear started to buzz or vibrate..like a tingling sensation and it was a soft woman’s voice. I started asking her questions in my head and she would answer them. One of my questions was asking about my unborn son and she said he is fine but I need to stop worrying because it’s interrupting him from tuning in to me or his physical body…something like that. And then last night the same thing happened!! My right ear started tingling and it was the CUTEST small child’s voice. I started asking questions and immediately sensed my son. To confirm I asked for his name and in the most adorable way he said the name his dad and I agreed on. It was so cute the way he said it, almost like a child reciting their name they had just learned how to say. I don’t mean to write a novel but I am so happy to be in tuned with the world around me and just wish people didn’t think this stuff was weird. Luckily I have one friend and my mom who shares the same interests and beliefs as me. Thanks for letting me share!
Hi Rita, thanks for sharing. Congratulations on your pregnancy! I’m so glad to hear that you are finding the information validating and helpful!! It is so wonderful that you are embracing your beautiful gift! <3
Clairaudience is definitely my strongest sense. I began by hearing music like a chorus that got louder and more harmonious almost as guide towards correctness. I continue to enjoy this “feature.” In time though as I began to acceot what was happening was real, this is all in the last 6 months, and I was a hard nosed science person before… lol… ya… my friends are like, “the hell happened to you??..” lol. But ive soent a lot of time in meditation like hundreds of hours since then.. and gone deep in my mind. Through my auditory abilities learned to distinguish individual vubrational frequency and feelnthe different energies within the varying harmonoes one finds through specific movement patterens and poses. Its all proved very interesting.
Healing and directing loving and calming energy around and through me seem to be what I am best at. Dogs race to me at the park and wait when I project out, I swear im not a crazy person lol. But I do it by combining my intnet to heal and help others be happy, with channeling energy in the specific vibrational frequencies wich I feel but also primarily go by the sound of the symphony in my head.
Im one of those who are super sensitive though. Lets just say I have tears streaming down the face of my tablet just trying to write this. Almost cant even finish now.. sheesh.
But ive definitely hear clear voices now also at times. I dont see things, but thats mostly by choice. Im fully aware of when im not alone, but still not 100% comfortable with all of this, so I choose to see no more than shadows… sometimes.
I didnt have the benefit of guides. But a decent working knowledge of quantum mechanics and years of study of human anatomy and physiology at u of oregon plus 20 years in the gym have allowed me to root everything in reality. In fascia unwinding and in the possibilities of unobserved uncertainty. There are so many insights stored in the human body, so much information available to us…
Hi Tatum! Wow, you are a really fascinating person. I don’t think you’re a crazy person :) If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I’d have LOTS of nickels! Sounds like you have a really good handle on your gifts. Awesome, awesome, awesome! <3
Ok so I am going to sound nuts ! I had my tarot read today and was told in very creative and intuitive we got to discussing this as I have. Very strong intuitive I dreM constant Dejvu and I have always had timewhen I just new someone was there . I did see things when I as you her but that’s stopped although I always we things at the corner of my eye orin the dark. Any way my daughter said tonight mum I always hear clicking when you are around me (she has said this twice before) apparently when I am around her or in her space she hears a click .. I have looked this up and I don’t think
It’s a coincidence that I found this page .you have described me !! I have just thought I have bridgetjobes in my headrest talks / answers me !!! I am slightly freaked out but feel like someone has switched a massive switch. The guy today kept talking if my gift but that I need to learn to speak how I feel. Sorry I may be over thinking this now but wow this is me !! Also anyone know about the clicking noise that follows me?? Xx
I’m wondering if the clicking noise is your Spirit Guides? Maybe you and your daughter share a guide and she can hear the “click” when the guide is around the two of you :)
Hi I have only been hearing inaudiable whispers, I already have the gift of clear knowing/sensing.
Anyway any tips on how to be better at it ( i read all the articles)