What does clairaudient mean?
Clairaudient describes someone who claims to perceive sounds, voices, or spoken messages through means other than ordinary hearing — a faculty known as clairaudience. The term comes from the same nineteenth-century Spiritualist tradition as clairvoyance, combining the French 'clair' ('clear') with Latin roots relating to hearing. Where a clairvoyant person is said to see visions of distant or unseen things, a clairaudient person is said to hear them: voices of the deceased, spirit communications, or sounds from remote locations. The word is used almost entirely in contexts of parapsychology, mediumship, and New Age belief, and it describes an ability that has never been scientifically verified; mainstream science attributes such experiences to hallucination, imagination, or sensory misinterpretation. Clairaudient functions chiefly as an adjective ('a clairaudient medium') and occasionally as a noun for a person possessing the ability. Writers should recognize it as specialized terminology of the paranormal rather than everyday English, useful when discussing claims of psychic hearing precisely.
Relating to or having the claimed ability to hear voices or sounds that originate outside ordinary physical perception.
"The investigators interviewed several self-described clairaudient participants about their experiences."
Almost always found in discussions of Spiritualism, parapsychology, or New Age practice.
A person who possesses or claims the ability of clairaudience.
"As a practicing clairaudient, she reported receiving messages she believed came from departed relatives."
Used only when the noun sense (a person with the ability) is intended; rare compared with the adjective.
"The survey gathered responses from dozens of self-reported clairaudients across several countries."
While everyone talks about 'seeing' the future, mediums claim some spirits prefer to whisper — and the clairaudient are those who hear them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of clairaudient
Clairaudient derives from French 'clair-' meaning 'clear' (as in clairvoyant), combined with elements from Latin 'audire' ('to hear'). The compound was formed in English during the nineteenth century, when the rise of Spiritualism created demand for precise terms distinguishing different kinds of claimed psychic perception. It shares its hearing-related root with words like 'audible', 'audience', and 'audio', and its 'clair-' element with 'clairvoyant'.
Related word forms
How clairaudient is actually used
The word belongs to the vocabulary of Spiritualism, parapsychology, and New Age discourse, so it carries a connotation of the paranormal rather than medicine or science. It appears mainly in formal or descriptive writing about psychic phenomena; in everyday conversation people more often say they can 'hear spirits' than use the technical term. It functions primarily as an adjective but is also occasionally used as a noun for a person with this ability.
Easily confused with clairaudient
A clairvoyant person is said to see things beyond normal sight, while a clairaudient person is said to hear things beyond normal hearing.