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This is something I've always been highly skeptical of. As a somewhat experienced meditator, I'm hyper-aware of the constant flood of self-talk happening in my head, but I don't remember paying particular attention to it before I started practicing. It has always been there, but until then, I hadn't paid any special attention to it. Whenever this subject comes up with people who don't meditate, they often seem to live under the illusion that, except for intentional thoughts, their mind is more or less silent the rest of the time. I'd argue that 99.9% of people couldn't sit for 20 seconds without letting their mind wander, even if their life depended on it. Even I couldn't, despite my experience in meditation.
That's why I think that when people are asked whether they have this inner voice or not, some say no because they're not aware of it. Not having it would effectively be synonymous with being enlightened.
I have internal voice sometimes but not others. In some things my cognition is far more verbal, working through something like a monologue or conversation. Other times I may have more of a mental image of something, sometimes more in real space and sometimes completely disconnected from real space. Sometimes it is much more abstract with sensations and emotions with very little in terms of concrete metaphores.
Also I can have racing thoughts without it being language. I also have impacts on those racing thoughts from taking Ritalin (ADHD medication) and it is not just the word thoughts but also the flow of other types of cognition.
Also an experienced meditator.
Not everyone thinks in words. Some people think in pictures. Or in other sense consciousnesses. As an experienced cook, I can think in taste and smell without any auditory component of 'what should I put in this dish'. For example.
As for word thinking, passive thoughts are more auditory and active thoughts more somatic (throat and jaw muscles will move). These can be decoupled from the sense of I making, especially passive thoughts.
At which point you get thoughts think themselves, to quote Jack Kornfield. A sort of bubbling up of passive thoughts in voices that aren't mine.
It's likely animals that live close to people experience this. The owners voice yelling no when they do something the owner wouldn't like, even if the owner isn't around.
Anyway, trying to not think can be like holding your breath. I can do that for awhile. But it's not right effort. Letting thoughts settle, like sand in a glass of water. And letting go of the sense of I making. The mind will rest quite naturally. That's calm abiding.
In other words, it's attachment to the inner voice that's making it difficult for you to imagine that a lot of people think in pictures or other ways. And noticing this sense of attachment in your practice with the intention of letting it go, might deepen your insight into yourself and what others may or may not experience.
Edit: this listening meditation is helpful for me in letting go of attachment to the inner voice. As is annapanasati, especially the third tetrad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OW9LNSVjPo