by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady explained,
I am 38 years old. I have no hearing loss, yet I experience Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). Over the last couple of years, I began noticing that when things are very quiet, like silent almost, I hear faint music. I describe it as hearing a radio station through a pillow. It will sound like a country station one night, a 50s style radio host the next night and maybe classic rock the next night. I can’t make out words or complete songs, but there is a form to the music. If I turn on a noise machine, which helps drown out my husband’s snoring, the MES tends to be louder.
I’m just wondering about experiencing these auditory hallucinations w/out any of the monikers usually associated with the syndrome. I have no hearing loss, I have 3 young children so I certainly don’t have a lack of auditory stimulation and although I have experienced tinnitus from time to time, I don’t think the frequency is any more than any other non-hearing impaired person.
Some people hear faint tinnitus when it is very quiet. Thus, I’m not surprised that you hear faint music when it is very quiet. I think that is your brain wanting to hear something—and when it can’t, it makes up its own so to speak.
I’m not surprised that your “noise machine” makes your phantom music louder. In fact, this is relatively common.
A continuous sound such as a fan running in the background—it could be a furnace, air conditioner, fridge, bedroom fan, etc.—seems to cause numbers of people to hear phantom music.
Somehow the brain takes this constant background sound and modulates it into music. Some people have specifically noticed they hear phantom music whenever their furnace/air conditioner comes on and goes away when their furnace/air conditioner cycles off. Your noise generator is doing much the same thing for you. This is a special kind of MES that is relatively common in people with normal hearing.
Since I wrote the above I’ve done more research on this particular phenomenon. I have written a companion article called “Apophenia, Audio Pareidolia and Musical Ear Syndrome” that you should read. It explains in much greater detail exactly what is going on and why you hear such sounds. I think you’ll find it fascinating.
It’s reassuring to know that this is normal! In one apartment I lived in, when the central heat / air conditioning came on, I would hear faint voices — whispering, conversing, singing, or chanting! It sounded like a crowded roomful of people at a party in a distant room somewhere in the building. After a while I came to enjoy the sound, as they seemed to be enjoying themselves at the “party,” and it helped lull me to sleep at night.
The same exact things that this women had said every part of it is me exactly. I was wondering can this be a cause for migraines? I suffer from them very badly, nothing works we’re looking into my jaw now . Any information on this would be wonderful. I just found this website only a few moments ago, I expect I will be reading everything and may possibley buy the book on phantom hearing. I also suffer from insomnia, I’m am a extremely light sleeper. Thank you for the info thus far, Gina Marie.
Hi Gina:
I’m not aware of a link between MES and migraines. I’ve collected the stories of more than 1,500 people with MES and only one of them has mentioned having migraines at the time of their hearing phantom sounds.
If you migraines are caused by your jaw being out of proper alignment, it’s also quite possible that your upper neck, specifically your C1 and C2 vertebrae are also out of proper alignment. And that can cause migraines.
It sure wouldn’t hurt to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and make sure your C1 and C2 are in proper alignment along with the muscles and tendons in your upper back, neck and face.
I wrote a comprehensive article about Meniere’s disease and how your C1 and C2 vertebrae are the basic cause. In it I also explain about migraines also being caused by the same problem. And I give information how to find a good upper cervical spine chiropractor. So it could be well worth the read. Just read between the lines if you don’t have Meniere’s disease. The rest may be valid in your case. You can see this article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/
Cordially,
Neil
I recently started taking Bupropion and I also recently began hearing “commercials” and music playing in my mind when it wasn’t. I just found this website and feel a little better. I’ve been afraid to mention it to my family. Worried I was crazy. Do you think it could be directly related to the new medication?
I have also noticed it seems to be happening when the a/c is running. Or when the Shower is on.
Hi Heather:
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is well-known for causing a person to hear phantom sounds. There have been hundreds and hundreds of such reports. So your phantom music and commercials could well be caused by this drug.
But it could also be unrelated to the Bupropion since you hear these sounds when the air conditioner or shower is running. If this is the case, then you have audio pareidolia where your brain matches the background sounds (A/C or shower) to its pattern database–no matter how far off the pattern match is–and thus when they are on, you hear this music and commercials. In this case, it isn’t phantom sounds since they are based on real sounds in the background. This is a perfectly natural phenomenon and nothing to be worried about.
Maybe you need to get off this drug and see whether your “sounds” go away. If they do, then you know the former scenario is the one and the Bupropion is the culprit.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear music inside my head for 10 years..I write down the lyrics, re- create and send to a band I know! Weird. The song became a hit!
I am a recently retired Soldier that i hear this constantly. to the point where i can make out sometimes what the two radio personalities are saying (cash giveaways, prizes to 10th caller, etc). the era is always 1980 just don’t know approx. year, Mainly hear it in guest bathroom the clearest. Would be great to hear that i’m not going through ore stages of insanity. It is excessive at times and it’s so loud that it angers me when others can’t hear it.
Hi Jason:
If you mostly hear these phantom productions in the guest bathroom, tell me, is the fan in the bathroom on at the time? If so, turn it off and see if the phantom sounds go away. If they do, and come back when you turn the fan on again, you have audio pareidolia. If it is still just as loud with the fan off, you probably have Musical Ear Syndrome. Neither indicates you are going nuts.
Cordially,
Neil
I can also hear the music, commercials, call signs. I thought I was just going nuts and it scared me so badI had a panic attack about it a well.. Is it possible we are all hearing the same station at the same time? Most importantly, is there a fix for this.
Hi Sandy:
You are NOT hearing any real radio station. You are either experiencing audio pareidolia or Musical Ear Syndrome–just like Jason was experiencing. Just because you think you hear the call sign of a radio station doesn’t mean it is real. Jason was hearing what he thought was commercials like they did 40 years ago! Not like they do now. That alone should be enough to make you realize it is phantom.
If you are hearing audio pareidolia, then find the source of the background sound (typically a fan or motor running in you furnace/air conditioning system) and turn it off. If the phantom sound goes away instantly, you know you have audio pareidolia. If it doesn’t and covering your ears doesn’t make the sound go away, then you know you have Musical Ear Syndrome.
If you have MES, then read my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/ for tips on how to try to get it to go away, or how to successfully deal with it if it won’t go away.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi i’m a 38 year old female. I think I may I have MES. I suffer from extrem migraines. I basically have one nearly every day. I probably only have 5 days a months migraine free. They are so debilitating I have had to stop working. I have had so many tests and tried so many therapies but nothing is working so when I came here and read Gena’s message I did wonder if my migraines could be linked to this MES.
In my case it happens only as I wake up . I am in a state of semi consciousness. I am aware but my body is not fully awake. At the beginning I just thought I could hear my neighbours radio. I could clearly here they were talking in English. I should say I live in Switzerland so this was not normal as my neighbours at the time didn’t speak English to my knowledge. One day at out house owners meeting I asked who listened to English radio and they all looked at me as if I was crazy. I should add I sleep with ear plugs and there was no noise other than the occasional sheep or cow. I just find plugs really help shut out the world.
Anyway I thought it must be one of the neighbours who wasn’t there even though they lived in the flat diagonally to me. But then I moved and started hearing at the same moment the radio again. This was a flat where I never heard my neighbours so I really started to wonder. The stations would vary from French to German. I could clearly hear the change from song to presenter. Then I went to stay with my mum. She lives in a totally isolated house. I was staying in an annex. No way I could hear any neibourghs this time and yet again. And this time in English. My mum said she had had the English radio on but there is no way I should have been able to hear it and when we tried to recreate it, I couldn’t. Again no background noise and earplugs on. One time I was alert enough to manage to remove my plugs thinking I would hear better but as soon as I did, I couldn’t hear it anymore.
Any help in understanding and knowing if this is linked to my migraines would be deeply appreciated.
Hi Rosanna:
From what you said, I am sure you are experiencing Musical Ear Syndrome. In your case, I wouldn’t be surprised if your MES is largely being caused by your wearing earplugs so much of the time. This is not a good idea as it also leads to hyperacusis where you begin to perceive all sounds as too loud. But I suspect your migraines are making you perceive sounds as too loud and possibly painful, therefore you wear earplugs to try to prevent this.
This can become a vicious cycle–your hyperacusis exacerbates your migraines so you wear earplugs which exacerbates your hyperacusis and so on. And in the process you have developed MES as well from the lack of sound reaching your brain so it makes up its own program of sounds.
I really don’t think your MES and migraines are directly related, but hyperacusis and migraines can be related to each other.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Rosanna:
I think the cause of your MES is wearing ear plugs when they are not necessary. Your brain wants to hear sounds all the time–day and night. When you wear ear plugs all night, it deprives it from sounds and “retaliates” by producing its own sounds from memories. You may find that if you stop wearing ear plugs (unless you are around very loud sounds) that your MES goes away.
This seems even more likely since you hear your MES in the mornings after your brain has been starved for sound all night. It’s probably also why the MES stopped when you removed your ear plugs to hear it better.
Furthermore, when you wear ear plugs, you make your hearing more sensitive and that makes dealing with migraines even harder.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr.Bauman, I’m a 57 year old female quadriplegic,I have a spinal cord injury C1,C2,C6 and C7. I have severe neuropathy and muscle spasms. With klonis. I also have a Baclofen pump for my muscle spasms. I am experiencing musical (phantom) off and on when the house is quiet. It sounds like a AM radio. Sometimes it sounds like talk radio. Sometimes it sound like a 50’s music station. I’m just wondering if any of my medication could be causing this experience. Amy help will be greatly appreciated. Gratefully Kim
Hi Kim:
Baclofen can indeed cause auditory hallucinations which could be producing the MES-like sounds you are hearing.
What other drugs are you taking? I can look them up for you and see whether they are likely to cause MES or not.
Do you have a hearing loss? Or do you live in a quiet environment? If the latter, having real music or sounds to listen to gives your brain real sounds to process and can lessen its “need” to produce phantom sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
When I was a kid I could hear people outside the bathroom talking. It sounded like my dads booming voice. I hear a sound in the background almost all the time. Mainly when its real quite or theres a fan going. Im also having vision problems. Its like Im looking through something that warps the light. I suffer with insomnia, severe anxiety and have a bipolar 1 disorder diagnosis from multiple doctors. Im so tense I’ve ground down my molars clenching that they busted. I get frequent what Im assuming are panic attacks. The moment it kicks in gear its like my lungs tighten up and my hear is melting. Its like going down a roller coaster or drowning. Ty so much for your time. Im also 29 years old Im 5’7″ and have never weighed more than about 110 which is also how fast my heart naturally beats in a relaxed setting
Hi Daniel:
I think what you were experiencing is audio pareidolia where the voices you hear are piggybacked on real background sounds such as fan running, water running, etc.
Are you still experiencing these responses to continuous background sounds?
Note that my expertise is with ears, not all the other conditions you are experiencing, so I can’t help you with those.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, I would suffer migraines from the age of 10yrs old. At 45 I would get them 2 times a week and they would last 2-3. Days. No down time. It was so bad I thought I was dying.I would even lose sight in my right eye. During all this I could hear a party going on or people arguing.I was always in the dark since light hurt too much. But since before that I could hear the music and voices all the time. I can’t remember when they started. 2-3yrs old? Not sure. But the crazy thing is I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and had c-3 to c-7 fusion. Not a pleasant recovery but the migraines stopped. I could live again. The only bad thing is, if it’s really cold and my head is not covered or my neck I will get a migraine that requires an er visit for a shot of Dilaudid. The music and voices are still here as always only they’re not angry. I just found this site and all these years and I’m just looking it now? Right? It’s the normal for me now.
This is not the case for me I have been dealing with the sounds of music in the sky for 2 years or so. At first I thought I was crazy. Then I was told it was this audible condition. Well friends it’s not at all that. It is the Federal government I am 100 percent shur. They do it to see how stable any one persons mind is under intense investigation. They use drones that in day can’t be seen because of a mirrored serfice and at night the resemble stars. The somehow cast different melodys. Sometimes backwards to in a sense try to make a person loose it. As a matter of fact I’m listing to the general sound of the national anthem backwards at the present time with a 1950s still thriller mixed it. It’s been this way for a long time for me. It’s true they are truly cruel and unacceptable. I will never look at our govn the same . If someone had a weekend mind I believe it could cause someone to loose there mind and either kill or suicide.
Hi Ty:
You are entitled to your own opinions of course, but I’m afraid you are way out in left field on this issue. You haven’t given any evidence to prove your case that the sounds you are hearing are from government drones, or anything else.
For example, if what you were hearing was from overhead drones, then your neighbors would hear them too and you give no indication that they all do.
You say the drones have mirrored surfaces so you can’t see them by day. If these drones are so far up you can’t see them, how are they getting these sounds to you ears? And why would they look like stars by night–if they have no lights on them, they would by black and you wouldn’t see them.
What you are hearing sounds more like you have Musical Ear Syndrome, or are hearing other auditory hallucinations rather than real sounds. I’d be interested in hearing more about these sounds you are hearing, how often you hear them, where you hear them–only at home or elsewhere too, whether they are repetitive sounds, are you on any drugs or medications, etc., etc. so I can better understand your situation and what you are hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
I too have musical ear syndrome. I have had it all my life (50 yrs) but only just mentioned it to my mother because I thought it was weird. She too has it. I have always liked having it but when I found out that others have it it was an amazing feeling to know that I’m not alone. Both my mother and I suffer(ed) from migraines though so I think it’s interesting to read Gina’s statement. I’d be interested in seeing if there really is a correlation. I very strongly disagree with the background noise thing though. I have MES whether there is white noise or not. Mom does too.
Hi Gayle:
Is your MES constant day and night 24/7? Or does it come and go? Do you only get it before/while you have a migraine or what?
Is your mom’s experience the same as yours in regards to the above questions?
Why do you think your MES is related to migraines and not something else?
Finally, white noise has nothing to do with MES–its constant background sounds–and unless you live in a vacuum, you are surrounded by sounds. So why couldn’t your MES be triggered by some of them at times?
I’m trying to see whether there could be a link between migraines and MES, so I need to gather as much information about your situation as possible.
Cordially,
Neil
Good Morning Doc. I am 38 yrs old female. I have 3 childredn. When I was 33, I suffered from a 6 day migraine and on the 7th, 8th,and 9th day, I was seeing auras around everything, my voice was slurred, and I had really bad depth perception. I was hearing, music, people screaming, children laughing, but like that lady said before in the previous post, it was like li stening to a a radio thru a pillow. Anyway, It was a hemiplegia migraine which was was basically a stroke.
Hi Cheryl:
Thanks for your story. In your case, your migraine was basically a stroke. Strokes have been known to result in hearing phantom sounds just as you have experienced.
Cordially,
Neil
I have just figured out that I have MES. I hear hardcore heavy metal playing when my fan is on at night. This started about a month ago but it has only happened two or three times now. I also suffer from tereible blinding migranes. I dont get migranes while im experiencing EMS. I’ve had migranes since my late teen years.
Hi Alyssa:
So you really have the Audio Pareidolia version of MES. Since it is caused by your fan, you can move your fan further away and see if that helps. Or try another fan. Not all fans will cause audio pareidolia. So hopefully, you can find a fan that doesn’t–on “plays” relaxing music.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for this article. I’ve heard this off and on before, I thought I was going crazy. I just wish I could be like a couple of previous comments and make sound like a soothing sound. It drives me nuts I can almost hear the words, but can’t get a complete sentence. Also, I’m an alcoholic, quit drinking 10 months ago. However. I fell off the wagon a could of times, Christmas and New Year. MES seems to be considerble worse as I start my sobriety count again?
Hi Susie:
Some people hear clear phantom music and other hear what sounds vaguely like music played way in the distance. The same goes for the lyrics. Yours are the vague kind of speech sounds. At least you know you are not crazy when you hear them.
Alcohol affects people differently. I don’t think I’ve heard of people having more problems with MES when they stop drinking, but I wouldn’ doubt it could be so.
Cordially,
Neil
I began hearing a man talk and a radio station in the same month as I inherited aural migraines. I had never had either before hand. Both of mine are exacerbated by dehydration. Hope that helps some. I have an mri tomorrow about this problem.
Hi Neil,
It sounds like I have Musical Ear Syndrome.
And I thought I’d share that while I do not have migraines, I do have severe one sided headache’s
related to occipital neuralgia. I’m have C1/2 fused in two weeks.
Hi there and thanks for speaking up. I too have MES after Googling about why I hear music with earplugs but there’s no music playing. I’m just 5 minutes into reading about this so off I go to learn all about MES!
So I’m 42 and I just about 2 weeks now have been hearing this music but it’s loud and clear in my head I hear the words like right now I’m listening to the song I go everyware man over and over I hear mabey one to two songs a day all day i for real till I found this thought I was going crazy I also for the last couple months have a migraine almost every morning when I wake up no injury’s nothing no reason for all this to start
Hi Jason:
You may find that your migraines and your phantom music are related. Having said that, if you and your doctor can find and resolve the cause of your migraines, your phantom music may go away at the same time.
Cordially,
Neil
I just started experiencing this 2 weeks ago, driving home from choir practice. I heard faint voices of children singing one of our choir pieces, thought it might e the radio or a cd but it wasnt. We ave no children in our choir. Tonight I experienced it again, mens vices siging something I didnt recognize. This time the music went away when I turned down the fan on the car heater. I figure I’m losing my kind, so I looked it u and found this. Happy I am not alone. I do ave an undersized vertebral artery that got kinked once and i assed out, but it hasnt happened again as i am very careful abut turning my head.
I got sudden intense migraines and it was due to my shampoo, I started using baby shampoo and never had another one! Good luck! I came to this site because this phantom music started last night, it went away when I sat up but came right back when I laid down.
I find this comment interesting because I experience phantom music when my left ear is down to the pillow, but if I turn my head, even slightly, I do not hear it. Mine is faint music in the background (50’s or 60’s style music or sometimes classical) and I can sometimes hear what sounds like conversation over the music. I feel like it’s from a different time/place, like I am picking up on the frequency of the whole moment from another time/place.
Not to discount the possibility/reality of suffering from the above diagnosis
But it has also been proven that surgical implants(false knees, fillings, screws/plates from breaks, and other nonorganic replacements) accompanied by a certain level of wavelegnth/synapse firing one has and more likely with people over 35 given medical advances such as porcelain fillings, that essentially creates a path for a radio signal. Be it far off signals or local am/fm. Especially in cases such as hearing different genres and talk radio type audio when in a quiet environment. Food for thought best of luck everyone in your medical inquiries and cures.
Regards
VRO
Hi Vincent:
I disagree with you. I’d love to see some of these “proven” incidents that metal knees (for example) can result in a person hearing a real radio station. IF the metal in the replaced knee somehow “received” the radio signal, how did it demodulate the audio signal from the radio-frequency carrier, and how did it send this signal to the hearing centers of the brain (the nerves in the knee area send and receive signals for movement, pressure, pain, etc.–not sound signals–and send them to the appropriate areas of the brain for processing)?
I think you’ll find, upon closer investigation, that these people were experiencing Musical Ear Syndrome, and not hearing real radio stations (although they really thought they were hearing real radio stations since MES can certainly make you think you are hearing real radio stations). One key is that often the music repeats itself which does not happen in real radio stations.
Cordially,
Neil
hello Neil I am following up to the gentleman who had the issue with the fan.I came down with a flu that lasted 8 to 10 days from February 29th onward. In my illness I noticed the music coming from the fan faintly it first. I knew it sounded like hard rock music also. after getting well it continued. Along with a diminished appetite and no want for the normal three beers I would have every night. My apologies for the miswording I am speaking quickly. But after reading the comment above about the fan I knew I had to tell you this. I began experiments to prove the source of these sounds. Through deductions and listening very closely I located the source of this music. It is emitting from two radio stations that oscillate between one an another. short story version I come home everyday it’s been 20 minutes listening to the fan guessing what song I’m hearing and what station. I’ll use my phone and go to the live on air listening and Wallah. it is synced perfectly no lagging no milliseconds behind or anything. this gets better because this involves also a YouTube program that I use for sleep. It is soothing music and also delta waves. This sounds crazy but when the Sleep program is engaged it brings out things that you cannot hear. Most notably am Tire choir singing the words something is coming to America four in one register for in a lower register. But that is not all I hear voices like talk radio. The host is using up its transpose are purposely for comedy purposes. There are several other anomalies that the fan brings out at a low volume. if I pause the YouTube channel the sounds will resonate for about 45 seconds before dispersing back into the rock music Stations from over 200 miles away. other times I do hear looping but I believe that this does serve some sort of purpose I’ve made major discoveries one of the confounding ones is when the radio station goes to commercial. On my phone the commercial place like normal. But through the fan there is a loop of music. I am waiting for confirmation three different sources who work in radio. now I have a hunch and I think I will eventually prove that I am picking up satellite radio. After speaking with an electrician friend of mine today about the possibilities Definitely is something that could occur. but this would mean it is coming from leaking signals from a main source more nearby perhaps now the Delta wave patterns usually will suck the rock music away from it in the television takes it when I have the fire stick on the YouTube app. I have my back to it right now and I am hearing something is coming to America being chanted over and over. It is some sort of cadence and not the same every time. Along with that I hear muffled voices, the guy with the pitch transposer and some sort of strange oscillating drone that is not part of the Sleep program with the fan off. I stayed awake all night one night listening and writing down times when I heard anomalies. Much to my dismay going back in the day time and playing them I found no anomalies. I would like to speak with you further about this. This is an ongoing and changing event. when it’s which last night it shook me up a little bit. I did not want to move the fan in case this phenomenon is something semi precise in location. But I carefully marked where the fan sets. Then I went to the other room and got a fan of similar design the result was something barely Audible. Upon moving the fan back into the location I had it off a little bit now Just so you know we’ll shoot across the room over my bed, and hit the wall above my head where I sleep. this resulted in a much louder volume that seem to be localized where my tiny clock radio set. It has nothing to do with this it is not turned on the speaker is not accepting that signal. Today now the room is much busier sound-wise than it has ever been. I am 53 years old And am a low vision patient all my life. last night was the first time I actually caught an audio recording of it by placing my phone’s microphone directly next to my ear where my on my pillow. I am even now hearing different parts of the something is coming to America that has been Sun mostly by male voices. Today there are now female voice is added and it’s in a different octave also. It almost sounds like the male and females are singing their parts in a round. There is even a synthesizer nowadays firing up. I hear that the rock music, the talk-show also but it does not seem to be bouncing off the wall as well This changes like the wind blowing now. but I know what you’re thinking this would mean to Fannett decoding a digital signal. unless it has been decoded I through the receiver of television in the living room perhaps I do not know yet. I am very impressed with it tonight it has never been so Lively. but I have been using science talking with doctors talking with psychologist. all of them are encouraging me to continue my work. I have a phone call scheduled with the radio station engineer in 2 days. D’Amore correlations that I come in to contact with the more this begins to shape up as a genuine phenomenon and not something occurring inside the brain. It may not be that way for each individual but I have scientific proof or intend to have it shortly to satisfy the study. I will leave my email please contact me I would like to speak with you over the phone. My phone is typing this. So slowly and it is late. Thank you for your time in reading this and I hope to hear from you soon sincerely Eddie T
I HAVE THAT PROBLEM OCCASIONALLY…I FOUND OUT ON MYI PHONE ..THAT YOU CAN ELIMINATE JUST BY HAVING MUSIC ON YOUR I PHON WHILE YOU ARE EXPERIENCEING THAT PROBLEM…IT GOES AWAY WITHIN A FEW MINUTES.THE SAME PROBLEM I READ WAS IF YOU HAVE DISSIMILAR METALS IN YOUR TEETH .. WHICH I HAVE..GOLD AND SILVER .THAT ALSO MAY BE A PROBLEM…I JUST TURN ON SOME SPEECH….IFYOUR HEARIING PEOPLE COVVERSATING REPEATLY…OR TURN ON MUSIC IF THATS WHAT YOU ARE HEARING…MY PROBLEM OCCURS WHEN I WANT TO FALL ASLEEP…SO ITURN ON MY PHONE ..PUT FAIRLY CLOSE SO I CAN HEAR IT..IN A FEW MINUTES ITS GONE….TRY IT…IT ALWAYS WORKS FOR ME….I AM A BELIEVER….I WOULD NOT HAVE WRITTEN THIS JUST TO WASTETIME .. KEEP THEFAITH
Hi Peter:
Having other music to listen to, whether on your iPhone or computer or TV or A/V center may work for a few people such as yourself, but it is NOT the solution for the vast majority of people that experience MES.
Having dissimilar metals in you teeth has nothing to do with hearing phantom sounds or picking up radio stations via your teeth. That is an old wives tale.
Cordially,
Neil
Btw it’s not only old unshielded wiring bringing the signal but can also be transmitted through dental work believe it or not.
I am truly blown away that someone would claim this is an auditory hallucination or beginning to year loss. The vibrations (music/voices) are picked up on the old unshielded wiring and then the vibrations are transmitted into your bone structure which “translates” the vibrations I to sound. Why when your lying on your side with one ear on pillow you can hear it clearer as well.
You can generally turn on and search through AM station that transmits closest to your home and match the songs/voices up.
Hi Ben:
Your “knowledge” is a good example of how misinformation is spread around the Internet. Here I am specifically referring to “…transmitted through dental work, believe it or not.” That is false.
That myth has been around since the dawn of radio back in the 1920s. I thoroughly debunked that myth on pages 87-92 in my book “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds” which you can get at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/phantom-voices-ethereal-music-and-other-spooky-sounds/. Have you ever bothered to check out the facts?
You say, “I am truly blown away that someone would claim this is an auditory hallucination”. You are just displaying your ignorance of this subject. Obviously you have never studied it.
You continue to display your ignorance when you state “The vibrations (music/voices) are picked up on the old unshielded wiring and then the vibrations are transmitted into your bone structure which “translates” the vibrations I to sound.”
You don’t explain how it is possible to pick up “vibrations” in wiring, nor where these sound vibrations come from in the first place, and how they are transmitted to your bones (in order for bone conduction to take place). This is all just fanciful thinking.
Finally, you say, “You can generally turn on and search through AM station that transmits closest to your home and match the songs/voices up.”
I challenge you to name one case of someone who has done that and had an independent person confirm that he was hearing exactly what the radio was saying at the instant it was saying that. This means that you claim to hear a certain radio station playing but you do not have any radio on, and another person with a radio on and earphone to hear it so you can’t physically hear it listens and confirms what you say you are hearing. No one has EVER taken me up on this.
Cordially,
Neil
im a 29 year old male and i’ve just started experiencing this. i find my self trying to find where the music is coming from. i’m gonna buy book and find out more.
Hi Nicholas:
Is the music seeming to come from a fan, air conditioner, furnace or electric motor while they are running and stops when the motor/fan cycles off? If so, you are experiencing audio pareidolia. If you hear this phantom music without any other sounds around, and putting your fingers in your ears doesn’t stop the sound, then you probably have Musical Ear Syndrome.
Cordially,
Neil
Ive been hearing the same thing for years. I use ear plugs and when I do I hear it more, but often enough without them as well. Im kinda sad this is a thing. I actually thought maybe I was hearing a different dimension.
I have the same problem. Since we got the Smart meter put on our house, now I hear tones in my ears when I use earplugs to block out other noises. I get a hammering in my left ear and a high pitch squeal in my left ear. Between that and the phantom tv noise I have not had a restful night’s sleep in two years, particularly the past seven months despite taking medicine to help me sleep. I am Contemplating suicide because I can’t stand the tinnitus or the 24 hr. Noise the Smart meter makes. It sounds like a tuba. I have even tried sleeping in my car but can still hear it
Does anyone know what kind if recording device I would need to measure low frequency noise? I have gone through all possible request for help through proper channels and they give me the spiel, ” it puts out the same elf, as a baby monitor” Well, not 24 hours a day it doesn’t. I can hear it thru the walls when I’m awake. It really seems to crank up around 11 pm. Sometimes I feel like the house and I are pulsing together and I have awoke with a migraine every day for 7 months. I am completely unable to function.
It’s mid April, 2018, and I sincerely hope and pray that someone came to the aid of Kimberly, and that she did NOT give up or commit suicide; in Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.
I was hoping to read the reply for Kimberly’s post as well. Kimberly, can you have them to remove the meter? I really hope you found a solution and are still with us. Im worried about you. Emilie
Hi! As I’m reading this I too realize that this is a “thing”. I’m 43 and have had EMS for few years now. No headaches or migraines. I live in a 200 year old house and I always thought I’m hearing ghosts or spirits at night. Sometimes it’s music and sometimes it’s conversations. Now I’m bummed thinking I may have mini strokes or seazures, because I don’t care how much you research you do, that’s just not normal brain activity.
I just woke up from a horrific nightmare and had an MH as soon as I got up… an old time radio playing a barotone singing opera. It was some other different level of creepy. I was so scared I started crying. This was my first night in my new house, which was built in 1940. I mean I get why it happened psychologically but I’m not a superstitious person so that is weird. This whole morning has been unsettling in multiple ways.
But your comment made me laugh, so thank you.
I can occasionally hear the baseball game commentators…from 40 plus years ago at my Gramma’s house on a Sunday afternoon!
The ear syndrome thing is not what I myself am experiencing, and have been now for three or four years right after an extremely supernatural experience with God when I hit my knees making God my purpose…the music I hear plays loudest in white noise and sounds like someone playing a piccolo…I can distinguish the songs and they range from children’s toons to gospel, Christmas, and even songs like almost paradise, here comes the bride, among others…Happy Birthday even played at midnight on my last Birthday…people hearing this music in the white noise it is not from your head….I know it isn’t coming from in my ear because you can distinctly tell it is in the atmosphere; almost as if I am hearing music from another realm…and the specifics of the songs, and that they change regularly, as well as timing on some such as Happy Birthday….some people may be experiencing some kind of ear thing, but I know for sure many who are hearing the music like I do are dealing with something different
Hi Jenny:
Interesting that you hear this best through white noise. God doesn’t need white noise so you can hear His music. It is far more likely that your brain is trying to makes sense of the white noise and is pattern matching and forcing a pattern of music to the white noise. This is called Audio Pareidolia. I suggest you read my article on the subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ . I suspect this is what you are really hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
I myself get it more when I am stressed, have too much caffeine, cold medication, etc etc . I hear country, my mom hears Christmas carols. It’s all just wonky. I think it might have to do with migraines…even silent ones …sometimes I get flickering light as the only symptom.
i first experienced this when i was 14. wasn’t sleeping or even laying down.. woke my mom up, scared to death someone was outside my room. my mom couldn’t hear anything. i have lived through it for many years. i am 64 now, and still experience it occasionally i doesn’t seem to make a difference if i am stressed or what. it comes and goes. i have learned to just get up and walk it out. also, it is more prevalent when i’m laying down. have never found a solution, just learned to live with it. don’t tell people, they will make fun of you. only if they are close will they believe you. my best wishes go out to you.
Funny, I just noticed your note. I hear, quietly, in a relatively quiet time in the background what I could say that my sounds are always that of a concert tenor continuously as a repeating stuck record. I do have two HAM operators; One 500 feet away and the other about 1500 feet. I have to contact them! Additionally, I have had a non-malignant walnut sized brain tumor (subependimoma) for at least the last ten years.
Hi Eugene:
Your “concert tenor” is NOT caused by the HAMs nearby. HAMs are forbidden by law to transmit music or singing. It will be all in your head one way or another–probably MES, but maybe audio pareidolia–but you haven’t given enough information for me to tell.
Cordially,
Neil
I am right there with you, when my portable airconditoner is running, or ceiling fan late at night sometimes, thought I was crazy or that my house was haunted, guess not, what a relief, this has occurred occasionally throughout my whole life. Pretty cool. Thanks ya’ll for solving this mystery 😅
I think it is the audio version of autocomplete – your ear picks up on a sound and since it can’t identify the sound it makes the next best ‘fit’
the same way autocomplete finishes your words or sentences for you
Very disturbing to hear a professional opinion on this well understood phenomena that is wholly incorrect in the diagnosis.
Google: “wiring in wall picks up radio station”
Yeah this is not some “syndrome” it’s a relatively well understood scenario where what you are hearing IS ACTUAL RADIO SIGNALS (AM to be exact) that have reception due to either old wiring in the house or often electrical cables outside your window. It’s AM stations that the electrical wiring/current has acted like an antenas for and generally Can he found the closer a house is to a station.
There Are many people who experience this and are not hallucinating and definitely not a form of tenitis or hearing loss.
It is louder when you use a fan or white noise generator Bc it actually cancels out the static in those frequencies making it sound clearer.
Hi Ben:
You say, “Very disturbing to hear a professional opinion on this well understood phenomena that is wholly incorrect in the diagnosis.”
There you go again “shooting off your mouth” without having any idea of what is really going on because you have never studied it.
You say “Google: “wiring in wall picks up radio station”. I did and I found a lot of speculation and other saner people replying against the concept of how a person could hear this “wiring in the wall”.
One of the problems is that only one person hears it and no one else can. That alone belies the fact that it is a real sound, but is an auditory hallucination or the person is experiencing audio pareidolia.
Sure the electrical wiring can act as an antenna to pick up radio waves–but you cannot hear radio waves. You need some “device” to decode them, amplify them and transduce them to sound waves so people can hear them. And that is where the problem comes in. No one has shown how that happens so that only one person hears it. And if you study what people are saying, you’ll find out that what the think they are hearing (phantom sounds) are often repeated endlessly–and no radio station does that. In fact, one lady that was experiencing this MES phenomenon told me, “I thought I was hearing a radio station (even heard the call sign) until I realized that radio stations do not repeat the same things endlessly.”
You say “there are many people who experience this and are not hallucinating” yet you don’t/can’t name even one.
And finally you state, “It is louder when you use a fan or white noise generator Bc it actually cancels out the static in those frequencies making it sound clearer.”
Where did you pick up this poppycock? The people that have audio pareidolia hear it when the fan is on and don’t hear it when the fan goes off. Period. It is not louder or fainter–it is either there or not. It has nothing to do with clarity.
If you want to hold these wild ideas and half-truths, fine–but that does not and will not ever make them true.
I’m open to all ideas, but I like to have some proof. I’ll try to shoot them full of holes–and if I can’t, then there is a good chance I’ll accept them because I am always looking for the truth–no matter how weird it may seem to be.
Cordially,
Neil
Not here to fight with anyone- or step in it, but for me, the AC just turned off & the old timey music went off with it. Just like last night & every time it happens.
Hi Shannon:
You are experiencing audio pareidolia. This is exactly how it reacts.
Cordially,
Neil
Humans are really something. It’s nice to know we are all one of the same.
I can hear one distant single female radio chatter. Reminds me of an Air Traffic Controller.
But there also appears to be a cocktail party taking place in the background.
When I shower I can hear the radio stations I’m pretty sure cause a few times I turn the radio on and same song is playing
This describes my experiences with this syndrome as well. I hear it with fans, the car tires rolling, and many other things.
Hi Sharon:
This means you have audio pareidolia. Nothing to worry about now that you know what it is and that it is just the way your brain works.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear old Christmas music and old marching bands… I’m 35 Very faint but quite distinct.
I have noticed this too- & it is happening right now at my friend’s house when her AC kicked on. And it freaked me out so I came here. It sounds like old timey like 1950s Lawerence Welk, and some of it like now has singing like the old Fred Astair & Ginger Rogers movies. It is very disconcerting.
I have tinnitus as well- though I had my hearing checked recently to just be sure & my hearing actually tested perfectly.
The last time I had silence was 1997. I came home from Metallica, 8 th row…the drums so loud they reverberated through my chest. I’ve had high pitch crickets as well as a mechanical buzzing ever since. I have to sleep with rain on to be able to sleep.
But this hearing old timey music & singing sometimes with an announcer voice just started last summer when the AC is going. Thought I was losing my mind.
I often hear what sounds like a TV show playing off in the distance when it is very quiet. I live with my wife in a home and there is no TV turned on. Sometimes there is a fan turned on. As I look on the net about this, it seems rather common. It is not a psychiatric issue. It’s not like hearing voices. It is so faint I can’t quite make it out, but is sounds like an old TV show with an audience laughing and clapping.
I don’t know if it is the noise of the fan and my mind is just trying to make since of the white noise a fan makes and fills in the blanks so it makes since to the brain or what. There is an old TV antenna in the attic. TV is broadcast as an electrical wave. Is it possible that the antenna is picking up shows and somehow my ears can tune in. After all, are brain is all electrical impulses.
I would have just written this off as no big deal, but when I mentioned it to my parents that used to live in the house, my dad said that he had heard it too, many times while they lived there.
Lost for answers.
Hi Jim:
Quite likely the fan results in your hearing the faint TV playing. It is not related to the antenna in the attic. Your dad probably went though the same experiences you are with MES. You see, MES really is quite common, even though many people don’t talk about it.
Neil
This has been happening for a while. I told a friend and she was kind and did not tell me I was crazy. This in itself a relief knowing I am not losing my mind
I hear music notes all night i look outside too see where the noise is coming from maybe taping into the other side angel radio or paranormal realm spirit realm.
Hi Hayzill:
Highly unlikely. MUCH more likely is audio pareidolia if you have normal hearing, or Musical Ear Syndrome if you have a significant hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
I thought I was loosing my mind. This just started happening to. A radio station. Sleep with a fan in front of my face, due to hot flashes. Oh thank God I started go ogling. I’m sitting here bawling
I had it for a little while too. It didn’t last for me, and hopefully it won’t for you either. Maybe you are anxious or started bad habits your head is telling you to stop? I don’t know what caused mine and I don’t know why it stopped but maybe you are doing something you aren’t aware of that is affecting it? Or maybe it’s just anxiety?
Don’t cry. I have had it since I was a child. Some times it sounds like the TV is on and I am hearing news caster talking, or I hear music as if it’s someone playing a radio outside. Sometimes it’s 50”s big band type music, or monks humming.
I had lots of very bad ear infections as a child with eardrums busting several times. So I figures it was that or I thought it was the metal fillings in my teeth working as an anyenna.
After reading this page I am glad it’s not my fillings causing it.
aww, sorry it causes negative results for you
as I type this, I am listening to duran duran’s ‘view to a kill’ from an old james bond movie, I don’t have any radio turned on
I know this thread is FOR EVER old! But I am hoping u are still around, doc! My mom and I both hear the faint radio station at night along with the sounds of a dj. I started doing it when I was in my early to mid 20s, but has only gotten bad the past few years (I am 35) . It is driving me insane!! It keeps me up for hours on end!! And normally it is only in my RIGHT ear that I hear the sounds. Sometimes I can move my head a certain way and it will stop. Move another way and it gets louder!! What will make it stop!!
Hi Can’t Sleep:
Just because a thread is “forever old” doesn’t make it obsolete–especially when it comes to human nature.
I’m not sure what is going on with your MES and your right ear. But before I get into that, have you checked to see if there is any faint, constant background sound that your brain is modulating into ‘radio station” sounds? It could be a furnace, fan, air-conditioner, or any faint constant sound. If you can hear such a sound, turn it off and see if your MES goes away. If so, now you know the cause and how you can get rid of it.
If it is the air conditioner and it is hot, you might not want to turn it off–I understand that–but perhaps you can change something so you don’t hear it as well–maybe put the pillow over your ear, or lay with your “bad” ear up (if you have one), or move the head of your bed farther from the air conditioner, etc.
That’s the first thing I’d do. If your MES is only when you hold your head in a certain way, experiment more to see exactly what you have to do in order to stop it. Are you turning away from the faint background sound source? Or is it really the position of your head/neck? Once you know, let me know what you find out and I’ll see what I can do to help you.
Cordially,
Neil
As soon as I turned the fan off, the music went away. now that is back on and thinking about it….nothing.
I can’t believe that this is actually a thing. I’ve heard music st night before going to sleep for forever it seems. Wow. Awesome. I like my fan and don’t mind the music of whatever sort. :). I’m going to go read the article now.
I just recently discovered that I too can hear radio stations..I can hear exactly what is playing to the word..did a cross check with the radio stations playlist online..nailed it..the fan being on just amplified it..although everyone I ask to try to hear it strangely does not..so I’m not sure how common it really is.
Hi Derrick:
If you can really hear the radio, I’d want you to have an independent person listen to a radio with ear buds so you can’t hear what is on the radio and randomly ask you to repeat what you are supposedly hearing and see if it is in real time with the radio.
If you can do that, then you don’t have MES, but something else is going on. If you fail the testing, then you likely still have MES.
Cordially,
Neil
I suffer from all the same, when in the shower I can actually adust my height relative to the door and I will get different stations. What is also funny is I was just vaccuning near the TV, I had the Roku on pause with netflix on. I could clearly hear the closing song to the show. Word for word while it was on pause throug the dysons input and output vents.
How do you explain the night I thought I was going mad because of hearing faint music, and I wrote down a FOUR song play list, got on the Internet and FOUND THE EXACT play list on a local station. No, no radio was on. It was 2 a.m. and I had to work in the morning. I wrote the playlist down! In order! That’s definitive data to me. Statistically, it could not of been what your theory states. It happened. I am 46 years old. This happened about 10 years ago and I woke my mother at 2 a.m. to show her so I had a witness.
Hi Gina:
When this happened, you heard 4 songs, correct? Then what? Did the songs stop? Did they repeat a number of times, or what? In order to be definitive, I’d want to know what else you heard, or didn’t hear.
It’s no beyond the real of probability that you heard the 4 “phantom” songs in order. I don’t see that statistically it can’t happen–especially if some time in the past you had heard those songs in that order.
If it only happened once in 10 years and never happened again, obviously you weren’t hearing a real radio station or you should have been able to hear it other nights as well.
And your mother is a witness only to the fact that you woke her up and told her something. She didn’t experience the “radio” herself so she is not a true witness.
In any case, you haven’t given me enough information to prove your case, nor to prove my case. If you hear phantom radios regularly, then we’d have more to go on and could investigate further.
Cordially,
Neil
I am experiencing the very same thing as you, right now. The water softener has been draining and I hear what sounds like a radio station or a spirts commentator at a ball game.i have never experienced this before and my husband thinks I’m nuts and he cannitvhear anything but I definately hear the radio. I put ear plugs in just now and I don’t hear it except for ringing in my ears. My husband wears headphones while he is sleeping and sometimes listens to games, talk shows or music but the sound I am hearing is not coming from his headphones . Please don’t tell me I am sounding skitzo. It’s 3:00 am and I have been hearing it over an hour. It’s very strange.
Hi Katie:
If you are only hearing the “radio” while the water softener is draining, then I’d suggest you are experiencing audio pareidolia–where you brain superimposes a “pattern” on a constant background sound that really is not patterned. This pattern may be speech or music, etc. and may not be a close match, but it nevertheless imposes it. When the background sound stops, the radio sounds also instantly stop.
This is a totally benign and human experience. Nothing to worry about at all.
If the phantom “radio” you hear is “on” when there is no background sound, then you almost certainly have Musical Ear Syndrome. From what you explain, I suspect the former, not the latter. But in either case, these are NOT signs of schizophrenia.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear radio stations clearly. I know what every word is being said, the songs I hear every word. Some nights is so loud I can’t sleep. Twice I’ve gotten up and turned on the radio and found the channel I was hearing. I also can hear people talk outside, a girls voice and what sounded like two different male voices. My husband got up, looked out the window and saw no on. Ten minutes later a girl and two boys were walking down the road. What I hear is loud and clear. It’s always the same station tho. 98.1 the Elm. What do I do to stop hearing it? I hear it with or without a fan or other noises around me.
Hi Carole:
If you only hear one radio station and can always hear it, that is one thing. The proof is that at random times your husband listens to it via headphones on a portable radio so you can’t hear what he is hearing, and then you tell him exactly what the person is saying/singing at the moment he asks you. That would be proof that you are actually hearing this radio station.
Some people hear their local radio station, but when they find the station plays the same song over and over again, they realize that even though they hear the station give its call sign, it is all phantom–it’s all in their head. So the first thing is to determine whether you are actually hearing in real time exactly what is being transmitted over that radio station, or whether your brain is fooling you and you are hearing what you believe to be the actual radio station, yet in actual fact, it is phantom. To do this you need to her husband’s help.
Once you have determined that you actually are hearing the radio station and are not hearing it’s phantom cousin so to speak, the next step is to determine exactly where you can hear the station. Do you hear it in only one spot in the house, or can you hear it anywhere in the house? Can you hear it outside, or when you are two blocks away from your house or wherever?
Our brains are wonderful organs, but they can so easily fool us into believing that what we are experiencing is real, when in fact, it is not.
Once you have done the above experiment if you times I’d love to hear back from you what your experience is.
Cordially,
Neil
I have this happening as well. It is NOT phantom or MES. We can really hear radio stations and I have no explanation at all for how this works. But believe me, its real. I hear sporting events scores, talk shows, and the time announced as well. All checked and proven to be real ( I know nothing about sporting events so have no way to know a score or even a team)
Hi Janis:
I have some reservations about your claim. I’d like to know more. For example, How do you KNOW it is not MES? What do you mean “all checked and proven to be real”. Did another person having a radio and earbuds so you can’t hear the radio, tune to a local station and you repeat what you are hearing and they heard exactly the same thing at exactly the same time you are telling what you are hearing?
How many different radio stations are you hearing? Are they local or more distant?
Remember, the definition of an auditory hallucination is that you KNOW the sounds are real and not phantom. In other words you are completely and totally fooled by your brain.
Where does this happen? Anywhere, or only in one place, in your home, or anywhere in your town?
When does this happen? All day and night? Or only at certain times?
Your careful answers to these questions will help me determine exactly what is going on.
Cordially,
Neil
@ Carol for the past year I’ve barely barely heard music only every once in a while but yesterday the volume of a sudden what up my brain I can hear all the words to the song and it’s also 98.1 I Googled it and it’s a real radio station in Florida I’m a little freaked out cuz yesterday is when it got loud and I could not sleep last night it was so loud and I don’t know how to make it stop I told my husband about a year ago when I would hear music he said it’s my imagination but now that I think you are the actual radio stations the real station you thinks I’m nuts I’ve been reading all these post and I don’t know if I can handle this in my head this loud he used to be faint right was kind of muffled what should I do
Hi Cassia:
I doubt that you are hearing in real time a real radio station. Just because you hear the station frequency announced doesn’t mean your brain is hearing it–and not making it up. To know whether it is real or “phantom real”, you need a second person to tune a radio to that station and without your being able to hear the radio, you say what you are hearing as you “hear” it and unless the other person is hearing exactly the same thing at the same time via the radio, you know your brain is making it all up. You are really “hearing” Musical Ear syndrome sounds–not a real radio station.
Cordially,
Neil
I too can sing a song certain days in my moms basement shower and sing a song word for word and turn on b93 and there it is right where Im at in the song.
The sounds are coming from my fan in the bedroom. In the living room it is happening different words. it has been freaking ne out. Its the same song over abd over. Ok if its a pernanent condition we should be able to change the song. I like queen but this is aggravating me
Hi Leslie:
If you are hearing sounds from the fan in your bedroom or living room, then you likely are experiencing audio pareidolia. You would do well to read my article on the subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/.
Cordially,
Neil
I have Audio pareidolia it started after receiving a traumatic brain injury. I was diagnosed with PCS and this symptom started shortly after I had to have a root canal at the dentist. The root canal overstimulated my brain, where I could not speak for several hours and my brain felt really slow- it took me 2 weeks to get back to normal and after I started hearing music whenever my air purifier was running. I liked the air purifier being on because it was like white noise but after the music started I needed to keep it off. I have a hard time with sound when I leave the house.
Hi Christine:
Was your root canal on an upper molar. The roots of your upper molars are close to your inner ear and can cause “ear” problems. I’ve not heard it happening with front teeth or bottom teeth.
Why do you need to keep your air purifier off not? Why not listen to the music instead of the white noise. It won’t hurt you and you now know what it is and you can turn it off at will if you want to.
Why do you have a hard time with sound outside the house? Do you now also have hyperacusis where some normal sounds are now much too loud for you? That’s another “ear” problem that can surface after having dental work done on an upper molar.
Cordially,
Neil
I am SO glad to read this!! I work in healthcare and I was beginning to diagnose myself with schizophrenia. I hear tv commercials or what sounds like a show on the tv or music when I’m laying in bed. I always sleep with the fan on! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve gotten up to check the tv only to find it is not on. I have anxiety and depression and thought maybe I was really tipping over the edge finally!
Thanks for the response. I am going to try to hear it without the fan. I tried today with the fan turned off and I did not hear the sound. If I can recreate the sound while the fan is on and not when the fan is off. I will have my answer.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi Jim:
Post the results of your experiment here so we all know how it turned out.
Thanks
Neil
i thought i was losing it. i heared children singing. it was same words over and over again. i thought my daughter had her tv on. i went to look and no. i never heard music before. i have dealt with REM hallucinations though. it wasnt scary just didnt understand why i could hear it and it quiet in the house. but i do have a ceiling fan on so i hope thats it. i even heard it walking through the house.
I have heard the TV noise again, but always with the fan running. I am sure it must be the white background noise that is tricking my ears/brain into thinking it is hearing something normal like TV or Radio or Singing.The brain will always try to fill in the blanks when it does not have all the sensory detail it needs to make a sound judgment.
This effects the memory as well. Many people will believe that they remember an event very well, but when shown actual proof like a picture, they realize they did not remember it correctly. That is because the brain fills in the blanks and as far as you know, it is real. You cannot tell the difference between the real memory and the fill in memory. It all seems real.
Thanks,
Jim
It happened again. This time, I was in the car with my wife. The A/C fan was blowing and the radio was on very low in the background. It was exactly the same sensation I get in the house when the fan is on, but all other TV’s and radios are off. We could both hear it. A very slight sound way off in the distance but you cannot make out what the noise is. Only this time I knew where it was coming from, my car radio but in the house, we have no idea where the sound is originating.We both have heard it and my dad who lived in the house for 30 years before us has heard it many times before as well. Either a strange acoustic in the house or something supernatural. Who knows.But it always seems to happen when there is no ambient noise except an electric fan blowing and the house is very quite. If you lift your head from the pillow or try to follow the noise, it goes away.
I actually thought I was having some sort of sympathy symptom. My son is schizophrenic and he hears voices. The MES just recently developed within the last month or so. I talked to my son’s Doctor about it, concerned I was having the beginning symptoms of schizophrenia. I was was very relieved to find out that it’s highly unlikely that I would develop schizophrenia at my age. His Doctor didn’t mention anything about the possibility of MES but it makes perfect sense. I actually have very good hearing and can still hear the higher frequencies. I guess our brains are so complex and creative that instead of hearing the boring hum of a fan or a/c the brain decides to make music from it. I also hear people talking at times but not as much as I hear music. I can usually pick-up on the genre and artist but the words are not as easy to identify. Not sure what determines what genre I’ll be hearing from day to day but I feel much better finding that I’m not alone and how common it is.
I hear faint music, when it is quiet in my home. Sometimes it sounds like rock music, sometimes other types of music. I have NO NEIGHBORS- N,S,E, or W of me. so it’s not neighbors music. I, also heard it when I lived 3 hours away in the home I was in before I moved down to the bottom of the State. It’s always faint music, when it’s quiet in my home. Most of the time I am alone, but one time my best friends son was over and I heard it. I asked him if he heard music…he said no, but I could hear it faintly. I never timed how long the music would last…sometimes for a short time..others for a longer period of time. I would really like to know what is going on…relieving to read others experience the same things. I never hear voices of any sort…it’s always faint music and can’t say it’s neighbors music, when I have no neighbors. My heart stopped twice, at the age of 19 and I experienced the afterlife, but was told it was not yet my time and had to turn around and come back….it never happened before this event, but has been happening for about 5 yrs now.
When mine first started I too thought something was terribly wrong but I tricked “it” to find out. When it starts, I think of another song like “Old Man River” or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the “phantom singers” follow my lead. That’s when I got on the Internet and found MES. My doctor has never heard of it, but said I am lucky it is not typical tinnitus (ringing) instead. My mom was a musical person and I like to think she is sending me the songs. Before she died she gave me a pillow which says: “Where words fail music speaks”.
I just changed the song twice…oh my god this is freaky. I wonder if this has amything to do with ptsd. Ive had ptsd for about 15 years but this didnt dtart until about 3-6 months ago when i went thru a tramatic
I think I have MES not sure since it seems so real. I hear parts of music over and over all night. There is clapping cheering and yelling out words of encouragement at the singer tries to hold the last note. I even head Channel 7 vintage radio. I also hear people arguing and/or fighting but when I go outside to see who it is I don’t hear it and no one is there. I finally told my daughter who found this website. I was scared to tell her since I’ 68 live alone I thought she’d say I was crazy. Why music I have never cared for music it annoys me makes me restless. I but every night over and over again I hear music I had my hearing tested it was fine although I have a very hard time understanding people their words don’t make sense to me.I feel very alone and sometie scared.
Hi Carol:
One of the hallmarks of MES is that the music can be so real you’d swear it was real and not phantom. Another hallmark of MES is that you hear this music over and over again. In real life, that would not happen, so this is one way to separate the real from the phantom.
Although not too common, some people hear their MES as people arguing and fighting (typically outside the house) but there is never anyone there.
Everything you have said points to MES and that you are NOT crazy.
As for your hearing, I don’t think it is as fine as you believe or else you’d hear and understand people better. I suspect you have a significant high-frequency hearing loss and that your comprehension (word recognition) scores are less than 100%. That causes exactly the kind of problems you are experiencing in understanding people.
Regards
Neil
I am searching for anyone who can lead me in the right direction, I have no idea what’s going with me. I sit in my room day in and day out but my roomate sits in the living room whispering to himself. And not always can I make it out what hes saying so my mind will make anything up, thinking that his tone is going up and down in the way somebody would be complaining about you. And now even when hes not doing it unless I’m the only one home I always think I’m hearing him whisper or when I can definitively tell hes talking to himself I try to listen what hes saying and if I cant from what I heard my brain will make up voices that sound like him that now I dont even want to be home. I am believing it is a minor state of lsd induced schizophrenia
Hi William:
How do you know that your roommate whispers to himself in the living room? Have you snuck in there and seen him doing it, or are you hearing it in your head? If the latter, you are hearing phantom sounds, not real sounds. I suspect this is what is happening.
Interesting it only happens when you know he is home. But I’ll bet you’d hear the same if you thought he was home, but in actual fact, he wasn’t.
What you are experiencing could be Musical Ear Syndrome, or it could be as you say a result of taking LSD.
Cordially,
Neil
I am a 39 year nurse with one small child, married, prior military, no hearing loss. I also suffer from migraine as well as Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis. I believe I’ve been experiencing MES for a few years now. I started with typical tinnitus about 12 years ago and the last few years it seems like it has morphed into MES. I have a fireplace with blower/fan that runs constantly in cold months and I hear heavy metal/hard rock music when it’s is all quiet in the house otherwise. I will also hear it if the TV is at low volume and I am in the other room (sometimes instead of music it will sound like people talking) it’s funny that a Dr I work with had brought this up months ago and stated he had similar experiences. I have heard of MES but hadn’t known anyone else experiencing it.
Hi Lindsay:
From what you say, it seems you are experiencing audio pareidolia rather than true MES. It’s easy to tell. If you turn your fireplace fan off, does the phantom sounds instantly go away. If so, it’s audio pareidolia. Audio pareidolia is nothing to be worried about. It’s a normal consequence of being human.
Cordially,
Neil
Same here. It just started for me and I have been bawling. Did you ever get over it?
I am a 31 year old woman who was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder at age 18. I hear voices ‘inside’ my head sometimes, but what I think is so weird is that frequently I hear voices ‘outside’ my head… for lack of better words. And the really weird part is that MY MOM HEARS THEM TOO! We hear a voice coming from our box fans. She has described it as a ‘Rascal Flatts-type’ voice and I was shocked when she told me that because that is EXACTLY what I hear! The voice always tells me his name and I can hear SOME of the things he is saying sometimes, but MOST of the time, it just sounds like mumbling. It is SO FRUSTRATING!!! First of all, I don’t even know if they are real, and second of all, I can’t understand what they are saying. So, I just SIT THERE, listening. It would probably look really weird if someone walked in my room while I was ‘listening’. If a Doctor could respond and tell me what they think is going on, it would be GREATLY appreciated!
Hi DiAnna:
Voices “inside” your head are probably schizophrenic kinds of sounds. However, the voices “outside” your head may be one of the various Musical Ear Syndrome kinds of sounds.
The easy way to tell if the voices coming from your fan are “real” or not, is to turn the fan off. If the voices stop and only come back when the fan is on, then you know they are not real. Rather, they are caused by your brain trying to make sense of the sounds your fan makes. That is why you hear mostly muttering sounds–not real speech–because the sounds from your fan are not real speech.
Numbers of people hear such sounds when a constant sound is present such as a fan, or the furnace or air conditioner, or when flying. This is not a sign of mental illness, just your brain trying to make sense of such sounds. When I hear “music” while flying, it is the equivalent of “muttering”–it sounds like an orchestra warming up–playing musical notes–but not playing any specific piece–sort of like musical noise. It’s nothing to be worried about–just the way our brains sometimes work when they hear the constant drone of the jet engines.
Regards
Neil
The music didn’t go right away when I turned the fan off. So glad I found this even though It’s old. I’m so grateful. I thought I was going crazy. Thank you so much
Hello Dr. I hear music, actually full fledged songs when ever the air conditioner or noises from fans, noises from lights, washers, dryers, etc every day. When I can, I jot down what I hear and what I am hearing are actual songs. One yesterday was released the same month and year I was born. Others have taken my pieces of a song and identified it. The music is from different musical types old and new. If I cover my ears it does reduce the volume but I can still hear it. When I am outside in nature with no man made sounds I do not hear the music.
Hi Marie:
You are actually experiencing audio pareidolia where your brain tries to make sense of the background sounds you are hearing and pattern matches them to music you have heard in the past.
If you could block out these sounds totally, the music would go away. Putting your hands over you ears obviously doesn’t block these sounds completely.
And when there are no continuous background sounds–like out in nature–you never hear them.
Cordially,
Neil
By the way, my Mom has also reasearched it on the internet, and lots of people hear voices coming from box fans.
I was on the train (middle of the carriage) and I could hear this faint music. Everyone was wearing headphones and I remember thinking, “It must be loud in their ears!”
As I waled to the end of the carriage to get off the train, I noticed I could still hear the music just as loud and I thought, “It couldn’t be the same volume still.
As I was exiting the station, I could still hear it and there was no one near me. Shpooky (until I found out about MES)
I never doubted my sanity though. I know myself very well.
I have normal hearing (in fact I think I have very acute hearing and am rather sensitive to noise). I know this phenomenon well. Apart from thinking I can hear people talking I hear music if there is white noise or a rhythmic sound. As a child I spent time in a woolshed when the sheep were being shorn, and the rhythmic sound of the very low speed motors driving the shears seemed to alter in tone to create melodies. Fans producing white noise also create melodies but in a much more soothing harmonious way. I actually quite enjoy lying in bed listening to the hum of one particular fan which emits a soothing sound which I think is pretty close to a C major chord. If I listen I can hear what sounds like choral music, usually female voices, gently moving about the scale. It is very beautiful and I can even sort of “Direct it” to create my own compositions. I am musical and play an instrument but I think it is amazing how strong and pleasing this music from the white noise is for me. It can sound just so real.
Since this ‘symptom’ has become more frequent, I’ve been reading a lot about it and can’t really find an answer. I’m not terribly concerned about it, more interested. I’ve heard voices and music since i was five years old (not anything bad, just…like hearing it through a wall, though one time it was when I was staying at my Dad’s with my young children and I was sure he and his wife were fighting violently but when I went down the hall, they were sleeping peacefully, that happened a half dozen times that night but finally I slept after deciding it was just another of the ‘not really there’ things).
At age 60, it is either like a party going on next door or music, any kind of music, nothing I would think up, it’s sometimes there enough that while I’m in bed reading I find my foot tapping and then realize…I don’t have music playing and there is no music in the neighborhood going on.
With all the reading I’ve done, I still don’t really find anything that fits this situation. I understand the motors thing, but that doesn’t apply (though sometimes it does, for sure, something I worked out awhile ago with fans and ac but then turning them off in a while it begins again).
I’m just curious, made friends with this thing a long time ago. The brain is amazing and I’d just like to know why or what triggers this, beyond what I’ve read concerning motors, loss of hearing, etc. none of which apply to me as its been happening my whole life on and off, though lately more often than not.
Hi, we live in a very high density residential area of 10 houses. It has been a year, since the new tenant moved to our next house the problem started. Sometimes the music loud enough my husband and I can hear it clearly. But a lot of times in the night, I hear the same party music with same rhythm that drives me crazy. My husband can’t hear it, neither the security people when I reported the noise. It was such in a low level but it was quite loud in my ear. Sometimes hours I can’ t sleep and I have to put ear plugs to help me diminishing the music background. Funny thing during the day, this noise was not there only at night time.
Am I crazy? I am only 48 years old, I have very good and sensitive hearing. I even love playing my calm relaxing music during the day. Do I have MES? How do I prove it that I have or have not had that problem? Never had it happened before in my life.
Hi Ana:
What you are experiencing sounds much like MES. You alone hear it at night–not your husband or the security people. That shows it is a phantom sound in your head. Typically you hear such phantom sounds when it is quiet. Thus typically you hear it at night when your mind is at rest and it is quiet. During the day, your mind is focused on what you are doing and there are other real sounds around. Thus your brain doesn’t produce this phantom music.
However, you have a bit of a twist. Normally, the way to tell real sounds from phantom sounds is to put your hands over your ears. If it is now softer, then it is a real sound. But if the sound stays the same level, then it must be the phantom sound. In your case, you say you put ear plugs in and it reduces the volume. Normally, that would indicate it was a real sound, but in your case I wonder if it is that you expect the sound to be softer with the ear plugs in, so your brain cooperates and you perceive the phantom sounds as softer.
Cordially,
Neil
I don’t know whether you have this or not but you are NOT crazy. I think one of the things from reading about so many people having these experiences (though they all differ in ways) has led me to a couple of conclusions. One, I’m not crazy – though I’d pretty much accepted that a long time ago, since I’m 61 and it’s been going on since I was a kid. The other thing was that sometimes it is exacerbated by low level motor noise; fans or ac in particular. Sometimes if I turn off a fan, it stops. Doesn’t always work but it’s worth a try. Most of the times I just try to roll with it and it goes away. Don’t stress about it, sometimes you can even enjoy it. But I still go outside sometimes to be SURE it’s not really there 😉
Just glad I’m not crazy. I’ve been hearing it for a while, sounds like a classic rock station, even commercials. I put my ear up against every item in the house that was a humming electronic or fan I own, then shutting them off. I had to look it up.
So again, Thanks for putting this answer online to help people understand.
Could it also be that somehow the electronics react to simple radio frequencies. Therefore not our minds imagining things in between humming noise? Acting as a filter if you may?
I suffer with depression and anxiety, and have done so for several years. I have great hearing, although I do oftentimes hear a high-pitched ringing when there are no other source distractions (probably undiagnosed Tinnitus).
During the last several years, I have had countless auditory experiences where I will hear distant music and even people talking to each other. I cannot make out the specific words, but I can only best describe it as hearing a distant radio station. There have been times when the music repeats (which is annoying), and times when I could discern a specific musical genre (typically very old-fashioned music).
I often find that my experiences are exacerbated if there is a nearby white noise source, such as the air conditioning unit or dish washer. We even have a loud filter on our fish tank and if I focus on the sound of the running water, it usually morphs into sounds of people chatting with one another.
The people’s voices always sound emphatic, the likes of which I analogize to an enthusiastic news reporter.
What you describe sounds to be a combination of auditory sensitivity AND a psychological component.
Specifically, I note your comments regarding people essentially wanting to turn a foreign sound into something familiar, such as music. This implies that our brains actually WANT to hear some thing relatable, such as a radio station, and some of us have brains that in fact will process these sounds to comport with wanting to hear something innocuous.
I find that my depression and anxiety become worse (especially lately) because I cannot control the phenomenon. Personally, I detest hearing the music and voices. I would rather hear the white noise source itself.
If the syndrome is our mind’s way of cope, why is it that I do NOT want to even hear the sounds but my brain is basically forcing me to anyway? It is not comforting or more familiar to me when I hear a 1940’s song playing from the area of my air conditioning unit. To the contrary, it is rather distressing.
How much of it is neurological vs. psychological? Is theverything condition widely accepted in the field of neuroscience and/or psychiatry? Is there any sort of test by which a definitive diagnosis is made? If so, who makes the diagnosis?
I apologize for the length and multitude of questions. However, I hate not knowing why this occurs and have had significant concerns that it meant something more serious was going on, such as losing my mind.
I am a successful attorney and have been in practice for 16 years. I am not disabled and while alarming, I am able to function at a level comparable to my peers, whom I reasonably assume to not hear what I do.
I like to be in control of my faculties. Instead, however, I havery had dire concerns about a psychological breakdown or decomposition.
I found your site because I was desperately seeking answers and honestly wanted to know to whom do I reach out for help (whether psychological or physiologically)?
Finally, are you aware of any treatment for the condition?
Thank you very much in advance. I am very appreciative of your insight.
Sorry about the typos!
The sound you here is coming from the box fan. I am on here looking for answers on how to disable the transistors in the coil. I am so tired of hearing it. I can tell you several things that will activate the noise. They are iPhones, Bluetooth, ir, .. With all the transmissions running through are atmosphere it could be am radio, local tv (FTA) or anything. I have terrible sleep issues and need the white noise. I am hoping someone can offer help, even my dog barks at the fan! It is real!
I am a mother of 3 now. But when i just had my 1st baby. I bougjt him a toy. It was a musical toy that sounded a little einstein theme song. My baby kept listening to it that my ears got used to hearing it already. In the middle of the night. It was very silent already i woke up to the sound of the toy. I looked for it and it was just on my foot part of the bed. No music at all. I woke my sister who slept with me. I asked if she heard the music but sje did not. It was playing so ling in my ears. Even if the toy i was holding remajned silent. It kept playing until i fell back to sleep. This time i have 3 big boys. I used to alrm my celphone. Every 15 mins it alarms until i finally rise up.so the celohone alarm will be dismissed. But since the world is still very very silent. I can only hear the tik tak of the clock and the aarm music of my celphone. Isn t it strange. My celphone is just in my hands. The àlarm was dismisse already but i can still hear the alarm in the slowest sound. Not in thesame volume when it really actually alarmed. Its like the sound is from our neighborhood. Tthats the volume of what i hear. But i know that my ears just got used to hearing it. Is it considered MES?
So relieved to have come across this page. I hear jazz, and sometimes classical music when an air conditioner is running, and have told few people; reactions weren’t positive. comments helpful too. Thanks!
Hi Anne:
For people with normal or near-normal hearing, a constant fan running such as your air conditioner can result in phantom music sounds. So you are in good company. You know that when it cycles off, so does your phantom music.
This is because your brain tries to make sense of the sounds you hear. You should read my article called “Apophenia, Audio Papeidolia and Musical Ear Syndrome” at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ . It is fascinating how our brains work in generating these pseudo-phantom sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
I have OCD and a morbid fear of schizophrenia. I’ve looked up all the symptoms and “tried to have them”. So, I’d concentrate on the background noise and try to ” hear ” things. All I have got is phantom chatter.. Which is an obsession now.. (OCD). So all I do is focus on it and drive my self insane then I do my regular compulsions. I was in a metal band and my ears have been wrecked so I’m guessing I’m predisposed to MES? I also have constant rings, phantom voices, cell phone rings, guitar notes.. Just looking for a little reassurance. Thanks
Hi AverageDude:
Yes, you have MES. And yes, OCD makes it very difficult to habituate to either tinnitus or MES.
As you know, you need to learn to focus on things other than your MES or tinnitus, not compulsively focus on them, or they’ll never go away.
The good news is that hearing MES sounds or tinnitus is not necessarily bad. Just treat them as any other environmental sound you hear such as the noise your fridge makes. You don’t obsess over the sounds your fridge makes, to treat your MES and tinnitus the same way. Yes, it’s their. But no, it’s not a big deal. It’s just there.
Cordially,
Neil
It happens a lot in a fan, sometimes the air conditioner or some faint noise coming from somewhere. I only recognize the noise because I start to hear the talking an music. Unfortunetly it usually sounds like repetitive awful country music..I hate that. I also hear convrersations but cannot understand what is being said. I think being bipolar is part of the reason. Although not related, I can look at the carpet or anything with slight variations and all these pictures form usually faces or animals. I can look at just one thing and it will constantly change forms.All these things are there, it’s just being able to see the shades and variations and forming them into pictures. Maybe this is somehow related to this..It is nice to know I am not crazy concerning hearing the noises, but I have never heard of anyone having this picture thing..maybe I am really crazy.!
Hi Betty Sue:
If you have normal or near normal hearing and hear music and/or indistinct voices (like you are) from devices that produce constant background sounds (such as fans, air conditioners, etc) when they are running, then you have a specific form of Musical Ear Syndrome. This has nothing to do with being bi-polar or anything else. Rather, it is your brain trying to make sense of the background sounds. Your brain is always looking for patterns in the sounds it hears and sometimes “forces” a pattern onto a sound (like a fan running) that really doesn’t have any pattern to the sound. You can read about this in my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/.
Now, regarding what you see–the changing patterns. How is your vision? There is a condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome where you see patterns or people or animals or scenery typically on a wall. This typically happens when your eyesight has been changing rapidly for the worse. This is the eyes version of the typical Musical Ear Syndrome for the ears. You can learn a bit more about this at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/charles-bonnet-syndrome/.
Cordially,
Neil
Wow. I’m commenting the same as many here already have. I’m just glad I’m not “losing” it. I first really noticed the faint music when, being unable to sleep, I would go to You Tube and listen to rain thru earbuds. I noticed that in the background of the rain sound I could hear very faint music. I thought whoever created the rain video messed it up and that sound was on the video. I changed video and heard it on all of them. Started to worry at that point lol. Then what got me to search it online tonight was I had a fan in the bedroom and noticed I could hear it again without the videos. I got up, turned off the fan & it went away. Turned it back on..there it was. So Google it & here I am happy I’m not schizophrenic
Anyway…..thanks for the information and the assurances I’m not cracking. : )
Dear Dr. Bauman, Thank you for this blog and allowing people to hear from others re: their experiences with MES.
Below is my experiences: (PS-I am a 55 year old female, no hearing loss, average to above average stress level but not taking medication for any psychiatric issues, I can tolerate loud noise and enjoy concerts etc- but I have always been noise sensitive and prefer a more quiet environment))
My story- Two years ago my family moved into a new home. One night around 3 am (I was having trouble sleeping) I noticed music coming from what I thought was a neighbor (How rude (:). It was obviously very late and the “faint music” was very bothersome to me. I did notice that it seemed to coincide with the heat coming on and would dissipate when heat went off. After about 20 minutes of being annoyed I actually went outside to figure out where this insensitive neighbor lived (I guess the answer was inside my head). This happened a few more times over the last 1.5 years- but so rare, that I never gave it much thought.
Forward to today- I suffer from horrible seasonal allergies and my thoughtful husband went out and bought 3 fan/air purifiers to help alleviate the household allergens- well that set off my MES. Ex: Last night – we were watching tv, the air purifier was on and I said to my husband “do you hear music?” He said “No, but i don’t have the best hearing” – It was also Cinco de Mayo- so I just chalked it up to a neighborhood party.
Due to my allergies I have been feeling very poorly for about 2 weeks and finally went to the Dr. today- I was diagnosed with an ear and sinus infection. I came home from the dr’s office and my daughter was in the shower- AGAIN, I hear “music” (it was a great song too) and talking (like a dj)- The shower stops the “radio” stops- I say to my daughter “do you have the radio on?” she says “no”… Lightbulb moment- So like any good researcher- I google “hear music with white noise”- and found your site and others (some which have varying hypothesis)
My Questions are:
I am wondering if my MES could be related to
1. My current ear infection?(fluid in the left ear)
2. Seasonal allergies? (mucus build up etc) and/or
3. the use of decongestants (zyrtec D) that can increase CNS responses?
Or:
4) the onset of tinnitus and I should seek medical advice
Note: I was prescribed Steroids and Amoxocyline- NOW that I know I have a “condition” called MES I am going to monitor the frequency and the relationship to all the things mentioned above. I will keep you posted! The brain is amazing… I appreciate any insight you can offer.
Hi Joanne:
Your MES is obviously related to constant background sounds such as fans running and the shower running, etc. Since you have heard this for a year and a half now (at least from time to time, it is unlikely that your current problems are causing it, but they could be exacerbating it.
So to answer your questions. 1. I doubt it is related to your ear infection, or 2. your seasonal allergies. If it were seasonal allergies you should hear it every year about the same time, but you do not indicate this in your recent history. Cetirizine (Zyrtec) is listed as causing “hallucinations” in some people so taking it may cause or exacerbate these sounds–question 3–but it seems more likely they are due to the constant background sounds around you.
4. If the onset of your tinnitus is closely correlated with the onset of your MES, then there could be some correlation. You don’t say how long you’ve had your tinnitus. Both tinnitus and MES can arise from similar parts of the brain, a condition that causes one can likely cause/influence the other.
I still think that the main cause is the way your brain works in seeking to find patterns in the background sounds you are hearing and thus to makes “sense” of these sounds. Read my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ and see what you think.
I don’t think going to a doctor for “treatment” is really going to help. Your doctor probably doesn’t have a clue what is going on, and thus won’t have any effective treatment.
Cordially,
Neil
My question is this.. (I can’t believe I looked this up and the first hit explained!!) anyway, I too have these “concerts” “radio shows” “interviews” singing and conversations…. As though I was listening to a radio station. Not a usual pop rock current one, but like a variety of shoes on radio. And I can hear most songs, interview, stories and music clearly. Softly bug clearly. I enjoy them in the right mood. Don’t even lie I’m not listening to the radio or dining or whatever it is. Suddenly jolt awake out of it and realise there’s no radio playing!!! So I hear clearly?! Is that something else??r
Hi Bec:
I call this a form of Musical Ear Syndrome. If the music, etc. is the result of your hearing a faint, constant background sound, what you are really experiencing is audio pareidolia.
Since I wrote the above article I’ve done some more research on this particular phenomenon. I have written a companion article called “Apophenia, Audio Pareidolia and Musical Ear Syndrome” that you should read. It explains in much greater detail exactly what is going on and why you hear such sounds. It’s fascinating. You can read it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/.
Cordially,
Neil
I am so relieved. I thought i was going crazy. when my air conditioner is on i wake up and hear light conversations. I would go to the window to see if anyone was outside,or I would turn the air conditioner off it would stop. Sometimes it sounds like a radio.
I have heard it for years when AC or fan are on. I can actually distinquish, type of music, conversation snd a couple if times a baseball game. I also hear it in rt ear. It keeps you awake trying yo make out what I being said.
I’m 37 and have normal hearing but sometimes I also hear music usually with the fan or air-conditioned on. It started a couple years ago quiet often and then seemed to be less often and fainter. All of a sudden, it’s back louder than ever! That’s why I’m writing this at 1:15 am because I can’t sleep. I’m hearing violins! I sometimes her faintly what sounds like a woman humming a tune.
Hi Christy:
Was there any fan or other constant background sound when you hear the phantom music this time? It doesn’t have to be a fan or air conditioner, but those sounds are very common triggers.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you to everyone especially Dr. Neil! This music in my right ear, I can hear the songs perfectly at different times other day. But seems to be most loudest at night and my husband snores some nights. But this has been going on and off for four months now. I’m going to turn off the ceiling fan tonight and see if it will. Then I’m going to turn off the fridge as it just started getting a little noisier. I do have sensitive and I’ve tried earplugs. I thought might drown the sound. I’m hearing songs from the 40, 50, 60’s, and was never born till then! Thanks for being on this site!
I’m glad I found this site. Every now and then, I will hear faint voices. Today, I walked past my running air handler and heard music. I thought the cats had cut on the Bose, which they do sometimes, or the TV was on upstairs. As I walked toward that area, it stopped. I went back toward the air handler and heard it again. What I don’t understand is why would it sound like it’s coming from another farther away area instead of right where I’m standing? At least I’m not crazy.
Hi Julie:
Good question. I don’t have a pat answer. I think the answer has to do with how your brain perceives the sound and rationalizes it. Since you hear “faint voices”, then the sound wouldn’t be nearby would it? Thus, your brain gives you are further away location that would be consistent with the faint voices— even though, in reality, you can only hear them when you are close to the air handler.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear irregular percussion and some base “music” from my condo unit which occurs when I try to go to sleep (I end up staying awake for hours) and can cause me to wake up (perhaps I wake up and hear this and then can’t fall asleep). People in units above and below me state that they are not playing music. Could this be musical ear syndrome?
Hi Sleepless:
Yes, if no one else hears it, the sounds are almost certainly in your head, and very likely Musical Ear syndrome.
To be sure, if you block your ears with your fingers and you still hear it just as loud, its MES. If it goes away, then it may be real sounds you are hearing–perhaps your brain is taking faint real sounds and forcing them into a musical pattern. This is called audio pareidolia.
So what you are hearing is very likely either MES or audio pareidolia–depending whether it is based on a real (faint background) sound, or not.
Cordially,
Neil
I know you say its just my brain creating sounds, but i i told my friends that i heard country music coming from my window unit. Could even name the station cause of the wolf howl they do. Then told them the song playing and i might have just got lucky except i was singing the song as they turned the station on and it was the same song and spot in the song. My theory is that the FM stations are pumping out some serious strength and the fans in the unit are catching this some how and like a speaker which alters the surrounding air to create sound waves, the fan is either effected enough to transpose it to sound or whatever. This is something thats bugged me lately but i dont remember hearing from earlier in life. I’m only 32 but have and always have had superior hearing even though having to have tubes placed 3 times as a child. But i’ll admit that i do have a very busy brain. Ive self diagnosed my self with ADHD, and dyslexia, which ive learned is why my diagnostic skills are above and beyond, from the needing to figure out why and how and not being able to take in knowledge from reading. But when i go to bed, i like the tv on or a fan going in the back ground. Helps slow my thoughts down hearing one sound to drone off to sleep. So why now all of a sudden is my brain bored and trying to be the next big DJ? Also it just seems to be my house i live in now. I moved forbout a year to a brick house with a friend while this house got renovated and i dont recall ever hearing country music in my window unit. Not saying you’re wrong, more than likely you could be right. Just throwing in my two cents. Sad thing is i live in Texas and while country music is ok in small doses, my window unit runs constant lol. Only thing i cant put my finger on is why my brain would pick country music and only country when i never really ever listen to it by choice. But then after the fan noise is gone its stops fabricating the false noise that it chose to even make in the first place. Also over time i forget the fan noise but what always gets my attention is the music. There is to much still unknown and honestly everyones brain chemistry and psychology is different to get a clear answer i think. I may hear country music and someone else’s tells them to burn churches. How far in between does this fall from delusional or schizophrenic? I can hear voices, its just that i don’t believe they are intended for me to hear or talking to me. I guess my only fear is what research on progression of this is there and does any of it lead to better music? I joke but seriously i am curious.
Hi Chris:
If you think you are hearing a real radio station via your window air conditioner, there is a simple way to test your theory. Over a period of several days when you have the unit on, have one of your friends phone you randomly and ask you what is playing at that moment. (You must not listen to any radio during the duration of this test.) If you can say exactly what is playing at the moment (and NEVER get it wrong), then there is something to your theory.
However, if you do not get it correctly all the time (let’s say you have him do this at least 20 times), then your theory doesn’t really hold water.
Some people actually hear their radio station give its call sign, but this is still just audio pareidolia–your brain trying to make sense from random background noise.
Another way to prove to yourself whether this is a real radio station or a phantom one is that a real radio station plays songs once (at a time) and goes on to something else, whereas, with MES, the songs typically repeat themselves over and over.
So you are not looking for isolated words like the call letters, or one song at one time, but are looking for a whole coherent program. My bet is that you will not find this happening.
When you moved out for a year and didn’t hear the “music”, it could be that the air conditioner in the other house didn’t produce exactly the same sounds so your brain either didn’t make it into country music, or made it into something else.
I’ve heard from others that they only hear their phantom music in certain places–and that’s because they need that particular background sound for their brains to make that specific phantom music.
Some people hear a range of music. Some only hear one kind–and a kind they don’t particularly like, while others luck out and have the kind of music they love. I don’t know why this is, but your case is not unusual. That’s just the way it is.
Having your brain try to make sense of random sounds has nothing whatsoever to do with either being schizophrenic or being delusional. But it has everything to do with being human and your brain trying to make sense (pattern matching) out of all sounds you hear. If it finds a pseudo-match, this is simply an illusion, not a delusion.
Cordially,
Neil
I am almost 60 and I’ve experienced on an off since my teens. I almost forgot to mention this to anyone else in all these years..
Talking w/my mom this am, and hear “Star Spangled Banner” in the background; she’s a football fanatic”.. I realize that song kept going under/through my fan for a least 10 minutes, before I fell asleep.
It’s always a beautiful rendition📡
I have been experiencing MES for quite some time and have no hearing loss either. It doesn’t seem to matter for me whether there is white noise in the background or not. I spend a lot of time alone on my farm and hear it outside when I am picking wild fruit, gardening, wandering, tending to animals, etc. I also hear it sometimes when other people are around, like my husband or visitors. At first it was disconcerting but now I actually kind of enjoy it. I read somewhere awhile back that it can be the result of spending a lot of time alone and that people with depression are much more susceptible to it. Any thoughts?
Hi Tia;
You are correct that being alone (really being in silent surroundings) can be a trigge0r for MES. So can depression, anxiety or stress.
Normally people with normal hearing do not experience MES such as you describe. What was your situation when you first noticed it. Were you particularly stressed, anxious or depressed, or on medications? Or what?
Cordially,
Neil
I’m so glad I found this site! I hear very faint but very real music when our central air kicks on. I can’t make out words but I definitely hear music. I told my husband about it and he used to work on heat and air units and dismissed it as normal and coming from the coils, however this is REAL music and I strain so hard to make out words but I can’t. It’s so real that I’ve even gone to our bedroom door to see if my husband left the tv con while he was asleep because he works night shift and nothing….I truly think it’s sound waves traveling from someone’s radio or tv that are picked up thru the air unit. We live in the country with no close neighbors.
Hi Ginger;
What you are almost certainly hearing is phantom music–no matter how real it sounds. In this case, your brain is trying to make sense of the faint humming sound from your central air fan. What it comes up with is faint music.
It is NOT real music–but you are hearing a real sound–the fans and other sounds in the central air unit. This is a phenomenon called Audio Pareidolia. You can read more about it in my article on this topic at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Cordially,
Neil
I also often times wake up to my roommate talking but he isn’t there. He has a very specific voice so its not like I’m confusing him for someone on the radio.
Hi Ethan:
You can still be experiencing MES. Your roommate’s voice is in your memory, so your brain can use his voice as well as it can a radio or TV memory.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your article ! I thought I was going crazy, lol and I would tell people I hear music at night with no source found. The article describes it perfect, different kinds of music when I try to sleep. Thanks again for sharing information
I am thankful to have found this! WebMD always makes you think if you hear music and cough you have Demintia or something. Thank you for being so honest, too.
I hadnt believed it until I moved into a new house. I could always blame it on my aprtment neighbors, or the kids across the street.
I know I have ALWAYS done it, though. Its I always knew it was me, because it always happens in the shower. The shower always sounds like the next room over is playing rock music radio. It doesnt sound IN my head, it sounds outside or in the basement.
My new house is already creepy. It still might be a *tad* haunted, but at least the radio that goes off at 3AM in my basement and the people whispering and laughing about how they hadnt been found living in the attic yet dont actually exist!
I was putting my computer off all the time, thinking it was some hackers recording through the camera. staring outside for someone listening to NPR in their car.
digging through my backseat for a cellphone left by a friend that somehow had been answered. scanning the garage for a walkie talkie.
Its seriously amazing that Im not the only one this happens to! Sometimes I know its just a rythm, but its the things with a pattern that suck. whispers, giggling, recordings etc. I usually just try and locate it, because the minute you try it goes away. I try to direct it to something else, or ill sit in silnce trying to discern it.
Maybe ill stop doing that as much now 🤗
Hi Tulip:
From what I’ve heard, WebMD is a shill site for the medical profession. You are unlikely to get the truth there if it is different than the standard medical line.
I’m not surprised if your brain makes “sense” out of the sounds a shower makes and convert that into words. I have experimented and notice that if you pour a stream of water into the sink from just the right height, it tinkles and to me can sound like a repetitive phrase. This is audio pareidolia at work.
Your brain is apparently are more sensitive to such things and is very adept at forcing a pattern into external sounds around you. So you hear these things and imagine your house is “haunted” when it really isn’t.
When you start hunting for the source of the sound, you are actively putting your mind to work, and it doesn’t have the time/resources to do the random pattern business–it is busy looking for the source of the sounds.
If you keep your mind busy–especially when it is reasonably quiet around you, that should keep the audio pareidolia to a minimum.
Cordially,
Neil
OMG, Thank You!!! For many reasons, my headspace is very bad right now. Then a week or two ago I started hearing “radio stations, radio programs”, and the sounds of a group of friends chatting. I was literally beginning to think I was about to break. Seeing it described in the EXACT words I had just used was startling, but very welcome. I also have tinnitus and TMJD, so new things cropping up scare the hell out of me.
I am happy to have this explanation, although somewhat disappointed. For tens of years I have heard radio voices in specific spots in homes hundreds of miles apart. My husband jokes that I am picking up stations on my 1950s “silver” tooth fillings! For the first time, in another home, I hear a variety of faint music at a specific spot.
These sounds have all occurred when it is quiet, but there usually is not an identifiable source like a fan. I will experiment to find the source….but I have to confess I am disappointed my fillings are not “receivers”!
What about like heating actual music in your head from a real life song after listening to music? It’s hard to explain and this only happened a few times but I remember once I had been listening to music and I stopped playing the music but even when I stopped it, I still heard it as if it were still playing. And I’m not talking about “getting songs stuck in your head” I mean I heard actual music that was not there. It kinda creeped me out to be honest, it lasted fir a while then went away, it wasn’t something I could halt by choice it just stopped randomly. And it’s only happened like 1-3 times? Similar thing as when I feel like I actually heard a voice in like a slurred speech kind of thing, usually my name but there was no one actually calling me…
Hi VU:
Did this music just play once, or over and over again, and if the latter, for how long? Was it the identical music you just heard? If so, how many different pieces of music was it–just the last one you heard, or the whole works?
Did all three occurrences happen in the same place, or various places? Whas there any constant background sound when this happened?
When you hear your name called, this sometimes happens to people when they are worried or stressed.
The answers to my questions will help me to understand what was going on with you.
Cordially,
Neil
Two nights ago I stayed at my parents house by myself. They are in Florida so no heat or air. Early that morning I heard about four innings of a Cubs game played on Friday. The game ended crazily 11-10 with a big comeback. I heard it word go word. This morning talk radio and a song I’ve never heard. Is that possible.
Hi Trad:
Obviously, it is possible. You “heard” it, even though it was all phantom. Sounds like MES in action. I’ve heard many stories somewhat similar–but none exactly the same as each other, or the same as yours.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve worked out of my home for the past 25 years and recently I’ve began to hear a kind of bagpipe music from my right ear while I work on my computers. Just so happens that I have two computers to the right of me with slight fan sounds coming from them. Thank you Dr. Sherlock Holmes for helping me understand what’s going on.
I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for taking the time to do this thread. The opportunity to hear so many others’ experiences along with your answers was very helpful. I think just understanding what’s happening and knowing I’m not alone is a great comfort. What you’re doing here is most appreciated.
Wow! I never expected others to have this experience. Yes fan in the room does seem to help bring it out more. All these explanations are accurate except a few things i cannot quite understand. Like some said sometimes it sounds like a radio station from another time, sometimes Church like singing, Sometimes like a crowded restaurant with people talking, Sometimes the music type sounds nothing like i have ever heard before/no genre i know of. Never clear enough to get more than a word or 2 spread out if really concentrate. Sometimes it sounds like a tribe from somewhere praying in harmony with no music, Sometimes but not often thank goodness It sounds like the Darkest, Erie, seance crazy weird stuff i never heard before. I never ever hear the exact same thing twice. Feels like I am hearing things from some alternate universe right on top of my own in real time.
I thought in the beginning it might be sinuses or some kind of hearing issue. Moving my head, changing positions, clearing my throat, my nose, removing the fan noise, sitting up, I tried everything and nothing affects it whatsoever. I can reduce my concentration and focus on an actual room sound to get rid of it. It doesn’t bother me at all, i know i am sane. I actually enjoy trying to figure out the Origin, Time period, Genre, etc. of what i hear. Except on the rare occasion i hear the Dark, erie, seance crazy crap which i have never heard, in even the scariest of movies. I do not like those and do not want to know. Most suggest it is like a radio station and sometimes it is from various times in history i guess since it sounds so familiar to the television shows of past – example The people talked and sounded different back in the 30s,40s, 50s. Sometimes it sounds like a news channel from today but you cannot make out enough of the words to tell what is being talked about. The variations and broadness of the things i have heard is mind boggling and I can never change what i am hearing by thinking of something else or adding a different noise to the room etc. It is like what I am hearing is in real time Happening right then. I feel like I have heard languages that do not even exist. I am curious scientific type that always likes to problem solve and find answers. Until I do more of my own research I think i will keep an open mind to the possibility that maybe this is not a medical, hearing type thing. I embrace most of it. Trying to figure out the conversations, situations, genres, styles, Location, etc is fascinating. I am not a doctor but for someones mind to create any of what i here seems not possible to me because these things are too clear, complex, and never ever the same thing twice. Glad i happened upon this blog to read others experiences.
Note: Not once have i ever heard a song, conversation, Situation, that i have heard before. Small similarities to a few but most are completely different and never heard before.
Hi Dave:
Musical ear syndrome can produce all kinds of weird and wonderful sounds. Some of these sounds may sound perfectly normal, and other ones may sound otherworldly. But it is all just musical ear syndrome sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m having it right now…It’s raining heavily, and when the stories I am listening to stop, there is faint music, as though a gramophone is playing in the background. Thank goodness it’s not just me!
Thank God for this site.I’m right now in my bedroom with fan on.It could be a hit song,if I was musically talented.Have headphones on but no,no music playing,just the phantom one.In my bathroom while taking a bath,it turns to harder rock.Right this second,its like modern pop.I can hear background vocals,saxophones, keyboards.So I’m not crazy.lol.Its actually a pretty good song,but its repetitive.
I keep hearing church bells pealing very faintly. A series of 8 chimes, two down, one up, one down, one up, followed by three up, one down, just like they’re announcing the time. It’s been 24 hours already and only deep sleep will silence them.
Hi Tim:
Interesting. Do you hear them everywhere, or only in certain locations? For example, only when a fan is running in your house, but not outside? Or do you hear them in the house, outside, in stores, other houses, etc.?
Do you have any hearing loss, even slight in the higher frequencies?
Cordially,
Neil
I have had this my entire life. I can hear music that could be related to the ‘ roaring 20s ‘ one time it sounded like I had the local news on, and most of the times I can hear full conversations between people. For years I have tried to ‘hear’ what they are saying, but it’s too muffled to make out.
I ignored it for years and at one time mentioned it to a family member whom immediately told me to go see a doctor. I never spoke of it again after that.
I never heard voices telling me what to do, how to act or what to feel. It was more puzzling than anything. I feel like I am a fly on a wall back in time.
I lay silent on the subject for 15+ years until I met a friend, who after many years, I felt comfortable telling. She has always had an open mind about past lives, paranormal, dimensions, etc… she told me to listen to them and try to make out what was said or going on. So I did, but every single time I acknowledged and focused on the situation it would stop. Sometimes
There would be a fan on, other times dead silence. Most recently (2 + yrs) it has happened a lot while driving. No white noice, no ac, fan, radio nothing. I am now constantly second guessing what i hear.
I’ve had my hearing checked with no issues, sight checked and don’t even need glasses. No medications, health issues or past family history of such illness.
I’m at a loss. I so want to hear what ‘these ppl’ have to say but I’m always just a small space away from understanding.
It’s frustrating to say the least…
Hi Sue:
It seems to me that you have experienced audio pareidolia all your life. You brain pattern matches faint background sounds and the result sounds vaguely like speech. That is why you “know” it is speech, yet you can never understand a word.
Now you notice it a lot when you are driving. But driving is not a quiet activity even with no radio on. There is motor noise and road noise, tire noise, wind noise in the background whether you realize it or not. You brain hears these sounds via your ears and then again tries to make sense of these sounds by pattern-matching and comes up with its novel ideas of what you should be hearing.
This is nothing to worry about. It’s just part of being human.
Cordially,
Neil
I don’t have hearing loss, it is rather the extreme other direction. I have to wear a good pair of ear plugs at ball games, in crowded rooms, etc. What’s with my having this syndrome? I only hear religious music, specifically men’s groups and quartets, very good listening. ???
Edna
Hi Edna:
Glad you have such excellent hearing. As regarding your hearing phantom music (MES) exactly where do you hear it, and when? Most people that have good hearing, don’t really have MES, but have audio pareidolia where their brains take constant, typically soft, background sounds and make it into music or singing. Also, typically, the trigger is a fan running, or even a motor or engine running. When the fan or motor stops, the music stops instantly and may come back when the fan/motor starts again.
Listen and see if this is your situation.
Cordially,
Neil
Can the ocean also create this effect?
There are no appliances on and at night i begin to hear what sounds like faint choir/ angel-y type music in my right ear. I do live by the ocean but have lived here for 15 years and this just started this last year. I did see a comment about someone moving their neck and the loudness changing, mine is the same… I think. Sometimes I think it’s related to my neck. When I plug my ear, I still hear it internally.
It’s not too loud so it’s okay, but still worrisome and annoying.
Hi Karina:
MES sounds can be caused by faint constant background sounds made by fans and motors for example. If you don’t have any fans running when you hear it, it may be possible to hear music from the ocean waves if your brain finds a pattern in them and then forces them into it’s closest pattern which may be musical.
However, if you can plug your ears and still hear this music, then I doubt it is caused by the ocean or fans, etc.
In any case, it’s nothing to worry about so focus on other things instead and let it fade into the background as much as possible.
Cordially,
Neil
I heard some of the most beautiful fully orchestra classical music that I do not recognize. I don’t typically listen to classical either. It was faint and went away once I unplugged my air purifier.
However, I was curious about other causes. I have really bad contact and seasonal allergies (like blisters and rashes). Eventually when they are at their worst and I get raynauds and I have weird attacks. One time I started seeing sound in colors or I have temporarily lost my vision in both eyes where I could only see light. I get motion sick without movement or my sense of smell become so heightened. No doctor has ever figured out the underlying reason. I personally believe that maybe my immune system is attacking my nervous system leading to gaps in sensory input. I thought my brain was finding patterns and filling them in much like how we read. I thought your statement was interesting.
Hi Tara:
I think you have a number of things going on in your body giving you these strange experiences. First, hearing the wonderful music from your air purifier is audio pareidolia. This is where your brain pattern matches the sounds your air purifier makes to music patterns it already has in your brain and forces the nearest match–which isn’t even close, but when it forces a match, then you hear what it has matched the sounds to. And it goes away instantly when you turn off the device making the sounds.
When you hear sounds in colors, or see colors in sounds (among other sensory sensations, that is called synthesia. It occurs when two or more senses get cross-wired. My step-son has that. So does one of his cousins. As a matter of interest, it mainly occurs in left-handed people. This is nothing to worry about, but it’s an interesting phenomenon.
When you just see white (light), or when your sense of smell is really heightened, this can be from “funny” migraines such as ocular migraines. My sister-in-law can experience both of these when she has migraines.
Motion sickness without movement could also be related to migraines I think. But it could be from your vestibular (balance) system not working correctly. This could happen from the side effects of certain drugs, or a viral attack on your vestibular system, and maybe even from weird migraines.
I think you should go to a doctor that specializes in migraines and see what he thinks of this assessment.
Cordially,
Neil
Finally found this site after looking for hours. Read about “The Hum,” but this didn’t fit what I was experiencing. I live in a very quiet neighborhood and found myself hearing radio playing late at night when trying to sleep. The genres of music changes from time to time. I even heard some type of roaring 20s type music!
It’s very reassuring to hear from others who’ve heard the same things that I have. Thank you!
Hey doc, I keep hearing people talking, like a regular conversation but its just out of tune from my window airconditioner and sometimes through the orchard behind my house. But things get confusing because we have had problems with an actual stalker behind the house! (Like police involved on security cameras and video recorded problem). So I don’t know if I’m hearing this guy back there or what! And the police are trying to catch the jerk but they refuse to go into the orchard because of the danger levels involved and it would take ten guys anyways as the thing is so large with so many places to hide! The MES started right around the same time though, at first it sounded like a distant tv station that was just out of tune, you could hear they were talking but not the words. Then it got to the point where sometimes it sounded just like one person talking, like on a phone. But sometimes I can just make out specific words then not the rest of the conversation. OH! As an added bonus I have high functioning Autism, I’ve lately started experiencing what basically equates to super hearing but selectively. Apparently its pretty common in people with autism to have extremely good hearing but it sort of comes off and on and nobody knows why. I just started noticing it and I’m an adult and my mom and doctor says that its probably because I’ve been super tuned into the sounds around me right now listening for any sounds of the weirdo stalking me. So sometimes I can hear people talking across the street or even down the road and walk down there and see yup! 2 guys talking! Now everything is a mess with me trying to figure out if what I hear is MES, selective hearing from my autism disorder or the weirdo in the back yard! I’ve even written down some of the words I hear him saying back there, then went back after making a homemade parabolic mic and a homemade geophone and recording from it and confirmed that yup! I was hearing him! But other times I don’t know! I need help and dunno what to do! I even went to a psychologist thinking maybe I was going crazy or getting schizophrenia and he talked to me and said he didn’t think so but I requested a bunch of tests and continued therapy to make sure and he still thinks its a negative for mental illness but had no explanation for hearing stuff except selective autism hearing also(Which I didn’t actually tell him about, I didn’t wanna skew his objectivity but he brought it up on his own!)! What do I do? If I had the money I’d move far far far away to get away from this guy before he kills me and since the sheriff isn’t able to do much it seems and even recommended I move for my safety I’m screwed. I can’t afford to move! But I’m sick of hearing people talking or hearing distant Tv stations! Is there ANY solution I can afford here!?!?!
Hi Ryan:
You’re having an interesting time, aren’t you? I think the first step is to try to isolate the different possibilities so you can determine what you are dealing with.
I see three things you can do.
1. Have your hearing checked by an audiologist. If you really do have super-acute hearing, that should show up on your audiogram as hearing above the 0 dB line (-5 to -10 dB or even better). If your audiogram shows minus readings, then you likely do hear people talking much further away than other people can hear them talking.
2. If you hear sounds (vague TV, etc) coming from your air conditioner, then your brain is probably trying to make sense out of the air conditioner sounds. This is called audio pareidolia. To know whether this is happening in your case, simply turn off the air conditioner and if the sounds immediately go away, you know that those particular sounds are audio pareidolia sounds.
3. If you are hearing MES sounds, then the way to prove it is to block your ears and see if you still hear them. If you hear them just as loud, then you know it is MES. If they disappear, then they were real sounds.
This way you’ll know exactly what you are dealing with. After that, you can then figure out an a appropriate response.
Cordially,
Neil
I have extensive experience noted and recorded alongside my wife who knows of the paranormal occurrences. Two ears is one thing BUT FOURS EARS ~is another. AND also, you can plug your ears and the sound of distant music and scenes of people are OUTSIDE your skull NOT INSIDE.
… Simple test. Close your ears completely, if there is no sound then you are dealing with phenomena from unseen company which is mischievous in nature.
But if you close your ears completely and the sound does not stop then yes the problem is neurological. Go see a doctor or stay fascinated by the condition.
But dealing with unseen company and the mischievous nature making you a victim~ well that is a matter mostly of drug intake OPENING your mind and STRETCHING your “antennae” to these possibilities.
Hi Steve:
If you block your ears and the sound goes away, the simple answer is that you were hearing real sounds. They do not have to be paranormal sounds. What makes you think they are paranormal?
Cordially,
Neil
Phew! Glad I’m. It alone! I actually like rocking out to mine in my head. My head plays some pretty crazy jams. I wish I could record them and let others listen. I might make some pretty cool songs. The rifts that I hear are insane. The singer sounds like Rob Zombie singing into a pillow. It’s great cause I actually enjoy that music.
This has happened to me several times, and I am fascinated that it is a hallucination. It’s pretty cool to be cognizant of that while hearing it. I do have terrible tinnitus, and use a fan. Thanks for this.
Hi I’m 19 and I noticed my MES not long ago, I hear very vivid music in my head all day none stop. I don’t have a hearing problem as I have never had hearing problems in my whole life and I recently had my hearing check. (It was normal) the songs I hear can be random and I will wake up to new songs in my head or sometimes have the same song playing that I went to sleep with. Sometimes the music is so vivid and repeats so constant I can write the lyrics down on paper. It goes away when I listen to music but the only down side is the song I will be listening to gets stuck in the loop until it gets replaced by a new song I may hear from a commercial or video. This is very weird for me and also scary at my age, I really don’t want this to be an early sign of schizophrenia or anything like that. What is happening?
Hi Anthony:
Can you think of any reason your MES started? What happened just before it happened? Do you hear this MES music in all places or only in certain places? Is it related to any constant background sound such as a fan or air conditioner or furnace running (and goes away when the device turns off)? See if you can determine this.
MES is NOT a sign of schizophrenia. From what you have described, what you are hearing is not a mental illness. It could be MES, or it could be audio pareidolia (if a constant background sound is involved).
Cordially,
Neil
I hear a constant television. It’s just faint, just voices, and I can never make out what they say. I’ve read the comments and responses. I’ve looked for any source of white noise in the house, and cannot find any. It is silent, except for the voices. Like another poster, it is only the right ear. The wife thinks I am crazy.
Hi Wade:
The source doesn’t have to be white noise. Any constant noise can cause audio pareidolia. But have you had your hearing checked? Even a mild high-frequency loss could result in Musical Ear Syndrome.
Don’t believe your wife in this case. I don’t think you’re crazy. What you are hearing sounds like a classic case of MES.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve been having this a lot in my right ear i am a musican and I have been taking a break from playing the piano for the last three years and I hear more lately since I’ve been dealing with anxiety I hear it more when I’m stresseed like the notes hace started to change with my mood it seems like if I’m sad it gets stuck on one note but other nights it’s usually a happy tune I can usually block it out if gets too loud by ignoring it or not. Dwelling on it but any thought you have are greatly appreciated I e considered seeing a ear nose and throat dr
Hi Tiana:
Do you have any hearing loss? If you don’t know, go to an audiologist and have him/her give you a complete audiological evaluation. You may have some hearing loss of which you are not aware, but your brain knows. This can result in MES. And as you have discovered, anxiety can play a large part in how you experience your MES and whether it is intrusive or not. Thus, getting your anxiety under control would be a wise move.
Cordially,
Neil
My mother is 38 years old, and she has a wide variety of medical issues. When she was 33, she had a hemiplegic migraine and had a stroke. Ever since then she’s had MES.
Does MES have any correlation to hemiplegia and do MES and hemiplegia have any correlation with MS?
Hi Adrian:
Apparently hemiplegic migraines (strokes) can result in MES. You are the second or third person to tell a similar story about this experience so I’m sure it’s true. I know that any brain lesion (such as scar tissue) can result in MES. I wouldn’t be surprised if strokes do the same–hence the MES.
I’ve not heard of any connection between MS and MES so far.
Cordially,
Neil
Oh my goodness I have MES. For months I hear faint music like a radio or tv in the distance in the early morning. It wakes me up and Imgo around the house and outside and hear nothing. No one else hears it. I am tormented by it as can’t sleep and this wakes me up and I continue to hear it sometimes fir long periods. Dies this happen after a traumatic event. How can I get peace from it. Please help
Hi Lorraine:
If you only hear it in the morning hours, is your furnace on when that happens? (Or any other constant background sound typically caused by a motor or fan?) If so, the remedy is simple, close the register, move away from the register or turn the furnace off if the sound bothers you.
Since you don’t hear it outside and other places in your house, this is what I suspect you are experiencing.
You didn’t say whether you are hard of hearing, or how old you are which are two other factors that can bring on MES. So can stress, anxiety and depression. Have you read my comprehensive article on MES at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/ . This article will also answer a lot of your questions.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank God I found this site. The reply from other people is so helpful. God Bless All.
Hello doc – great article, and even more pleasing is the fact you are still answering questions regarding it!
I think I may be just beginning to experience auditory pareidolia or develop MES. I work with large, very loud wood chippers. When wearing ear protection (and ONLY when I wear ear protection) I can hear symphonic, ‘classical’-esque type music in the noise of the chipper. I don’t hear it any other time though. My question is – will it get ‘worse’ (not that the MES/pareidolia is bad or unpleasant) as time goes on – i.e. will I eventually begin hearing music in other sounds?
Hi Kyle:
If your ear protectors are properly protecting your hearing, I don’t see that it should get worse. You’ll just hear it when you are around chippers or other devices that your brain can match a musical pattern to.
Your brain may decide to match other patterns to music in the future. I have no way of knowing whether this will happen or not. But in any case, as you say, it is pleasant enough and is not a sign of anything wrong with your brain so enjoy it. It’s still nicer that plain chipper noise.
Cordially,
Neil
hi so I sometimes, and happening more frequently, will be listening to music/ rain sounds without any vocals and will almost hear voices, like I need to turn the volume up or something, just out of reach. I had no idea what was happening, I began to worry. I feel much better after reading this.
I was genuinely concerned that I was going insane. I will often times hear a muffled talk radio host. Music too. However, with music I can easily make out notes and rhythms and sometimes it surprises me because it will be extremely complex or just very catchy and rhythmatic. I know nothing about music composition. I wonder if some of our greatest artists had this. Glad to know I am not going crazy
Hi Stephen:
No, you are not going crazy. Our brains and wonderful organs and sometimes do weird things–just for kicks.
Cordially,
Neil
I am nearing thirty years old and have heard “television” noises since I was at least five . Not always , but often enough . It’s as if I can hear conversation between different people , and even sometimes what I think to be laughing . I can never make out any of the words . I will mention that I suffer from occasional migraines , but never associated with what I hear . I have excellent hearing as well .
Hi Shannon:
When you hear these television noises, can you hear any faint but real constant background sounds such as a fan or furnace running? If so, then you are probably experiencing audio pareidolia. So listen for any constant background sounds next time you hear the TV noises and see if that is the cause.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi – I haven’t experienced this in approx 10 years (age around 42) but I still get curious as to what caused it. I was woke up suddenly with the sound of a radio and talking, then music played. I was startled because I don’t have a radio and the sound was coming from under the bed. I got up and looked under, knowing there couldn’t possibly be one there. I was wide awake and still hearing it and stood up until it stopped (approx 1 minute). A year later, it happened again but this time I was awake, lying in bed. This time music was coming from the ceiling light. I got up again. It was a song on my mp3 player (strangely when I switched my mp3 player on a week later, that song auto played when normally it would just go to the main menu). This lasted longer than the last episode. I then experienced short bursts of music the following week every night whilst laying in bed (just once each night for around 10 seconds). It was coming from across the room, sometimes left and sometimes right. I’ve not experienced it since. I mentioned it to my Dr who just said he hasn’t heard anything like that. I wasn’t experiencing tinnitus.
Sorry, I forgot to say there was no background noise
Hi Julie:
The way you describe it, what you are experiencing doesn’t sound like the typical Musical Ear Syndrome sounds many people experience. Nor does it sound like Audio pareidolia since there is no background sound you can identify and seems to come from devices that don’t make sound in the first place like your ceiling light or under the bed.
To be sure, MES does have directionality in some people so they “know” exactly where it is coming from–but such people always describe it as coming from another room–THAT room–or THAT house–but not from that device.
Are you taking any drugs or medications? That could be a more likely possibility, or you have some weird condition I’ve not run across before, or you have some kind of mental health issue.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reply Neil. I’ve never had mental health issues (grew up with mentally ill dad though) & went through a lot of stress until age 25 but the music wasn’t until I was around 40 & wasn’t stressed then. In my late 20s/early 30s I had hallucinations/night terrors occasionally when drifting off to sleep (eg spiders all over the bed, horse in the room, someone spraying something at me from the door), but I knew as soon as I jumped up they were hallucinations due to drifting off to sleep. With the music it was so real & I was completely awake when still hearing it. I wasn’t on any medications when experienced all these types of hallucinations. I was worried at the time it could be a brain tumour but less worried now as it was over 10 year’s ago. What could be relevant is having earphones in listening to music prior to the experience (I recall on at least 2 occasions & 1 on a plane same day)
Hi Julie:
I really don’t know what is happening with your ears. What you are experiencing doesn’t really fit into the MES category, nor to the audio pareidolia category. And since you were wide awake it doesn’t fit into the hypnagogic or hypnopompic categories. And given it also has directionality to non-auditory devices, what’s left apart from some sort of brain condition? This is not something I’ve come across before and I’ve dealt with thousands of people with MES, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
For the past couple of years, I am awakened between 3:00 and 4:00 with radio statins, talk radio, a variety of music. Many times I thought I had an alarm clock some where and have tried to turn off my cell phone alarm but no luck. Why at the early consistent time. I’m so tired and don’t want to wake up until I have to
Hi Monette:
My first thought is that you are hearing your furnace or air conditioner or fan coming on around that time and your brain is pattern matching it to music and speech. When this happens again, listen carefully and see whether there is any motor or fan running that you can hear. If so, I think you have audio pareidolia. You can read more about this fascinating condition at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Cordially,
Neil
I thought I was literally going insane and I didn’t want to mention it to anyone and “prove” that I was losing it.
I hear music in sounds – like the heater in the car, the a/c in the house. It is music that I can’t even tell if it’s a real song that I’ve heard before or if my brain is like, “ya, that’s a song…”.
Since I was a kid, my brain would make patterns out of sounds but only recently has the music started. I thought it had to do with my teeth (bad wisdom tooth infection) but in one of the replies Dr. Bauman said it was unlikely (my issues are with the bottom right).
I also was concerned that maybe this was a side effect of my anti-anxiety medication. It’s funny because sometimes I ‘like’ the song I’m hearing but it’s not a song I recall ever hearing before. My phantom radio station isn’t a station at all – just straight up random stuff. Country, super weird indie-folk, pop-punk. I am very happy to know that other people experience this as well!!
Hi Kayla:
When you hear music coming from heaters, air conditioning and other devices with fans or motors, you are experiencing audio pareidolia, not MES as such. As you have experienced, this music may be “vaguely music” because there wasn’t a strong pattern match. I doubt exactly what you are hearing is from your meds–it just doesn’t sound right for that.
What you have described is almost certainly the benign sounds related to audio pareidolia. So enjoy them if you want to. It won’t make them worse–and you are perfectly normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Im 38 with normal hearing. In my early teens I use to hear faint music all the time when trying to sleep. It would drive me insane! I would literally check every radio in the house to see if it was on. As an adult it only happens a couple times a year. I never knew what it was till I read this article. Knowing it is normal after all these years puts my mind at some ease. Wish I would of know this in my early teens.
Thank you so much for writing this article. What a relief to find out that that this is normal. I don’t her music, I hear talk radio, its so faint that I can’t tell what topic they’re talking about , buts its definitely talking.
I woke up to very interesting Eastern “call-to-prayer” type music which I enjoyed till it became too monotonous so I just turned off the c-pap which was leaking air from the nose piece. Sometimes I can reconstruct an entire orchestral piece in my head after hearing it . The brain can remember. Musicians use “audiation” to mentally run through music as a form of practice. Perhaps audio pareidolia is a phenomenon rather than a condition–a talent rather than a problem. Just enjoy it.
Hi Laurel:
I don’t care whether you call audio pareidolia a condition or a phenomenon. Obviously some peoples’ brains try to pattern-match constant background sounds into some form of music. Either cut the source of the sound, or enjoy the results. It’s your choice. The big thing is not to get all bent out of shape over it.
Cordially,
Neil
Is is strange that im 13 and I experience this, but I can make out the entire song?
Hi Luna:
Age has nothing to do with hearing audio pareidolia caused songs as far as I know.
Cordially,
Neil
This is crazy! I totally have MES and have had it for over 23 years! I am sitting in my bed writing this after hearing a definite radio station playing for the last 15 minutes as our furnace fan is on! I honestly though my house was haunted all those years and now I read this! So glad it’s a “thing” and not a haunted house! In my case it’s always so real I swear someone is either downstairs or outside in their car with the radio blasted! Crazy cool! Thanks for this article! It was so crystal clear tonight I had to google it 🙂
Hi Stuart:
You’re a brave guy to stay in a “haunted” house for 23 years. And here all it was is your “spooky” furnace. Cool, huh? Aren’t our brains fun? Now you know what audio pareidolia is like.
Cordially,
Neil
I know for fact that it’s not a phantom sound because I have proved to my wife that I can actually hear current radio stations playing various songs. I about drove her crazy by telling her to go down the list until she found what I was hearing. Local stations of course. I know that it is more prevalent when there is higher humidity or raining. I also know that turbo type fans create a better source for hearing stations or music. I understand what people hear at times when there is just a faint sound of music at times . At times I can tell you what the dj is saying at that moment in time. My wife thought I was nuts at first but after proving what I was hearing she was shocked.
Hi Marty:
If turbo type fan create a better source for hearing what you are hearing, then I suspect you are actually experiencing audio pareidolia. See my reply to Jenny.
I’d also want to know how specific your location has to be in order to hear these radio stations. For example, do you hear them outside, or only in one place in your house? Can you hear them in another house? Or in a store, or in another town or in the car? If it is location specific, then there is another factor that is involved–not that you can hear radio stations.
Cordially,
Neil
Marty- quite interesting about the weather comment you made. I live in Michigan, and the current weather has been extremely humid. I actually noticed my MES was far worse on the days that were hot and high humidity. We had about 4 -5 Days here recently where the humidity and heat went way down almost gone. And the voices and music went away too.
My 19 yr old daughter has been suffering from varying degrees of tinnitus. we are looking into an ENT, cardiologist, Eustachian tube testing and TMJ–she is also a chronic migraine sufferer
Hey doc I hear the sound of a piccolo playing when my fan is on is that normal ? It’s the same beat every night ?
Hi Kevin:
For some people, fan noise is interpreted by their brains as music. It is not exactly “normal”, but its not exactly rare either. It’s just the way your brain works. It’s certainly nothing to be worried about. Now that you know what is happening, if you don’t want the music, turn off the fan or move further away from it so your brain doesn’t try to find a musical pattern it in.
Cordially,
Neil
I am 19 and can also hear the tv when it’s turned off I don’t know so much about hearing fan sounds I have heard of phantom sounds
Glad I found this, I was getting worried for a second there when I stated hearing distant music. I thought it was outside, so I put ear defenders on and it made no difference. Interestingly it seems if you push the thought of another tune your brain adjusts the sound to match. Clearly just some sort of mental compensation.
Hi Lostin:
Some people can change their phantom music at will, some with great effort, and some can’t make it change at all. You are one of the lucky ones that can easily change your music.
Cordially,
Neil
I am so happy I started to search the web about this. I thought I was losing my mind. People think I am crazy when I try to explain the music in my head. I love it, but nobody I have told this to believes me. So I have stopped talking about it. I have had this for about 10 years or more. I think I might have had it even younger, but am now becoming more aware of it. Thanks for you reteach in this area. 62 years old in PA
Hi,
The earliest I remember experiencing MES was about 33 years ago. I’m 53 now. At the time I had an air conditioner in my bedroom and it was a really old building so the walls were thick. I remember thinking for the twelve years I lived there it was just music from another unit. Years go by and a couple of years ago I come across something that sparks me searching and coming across your article. While it was fascinating to learn and understand it, it was a curse because I then became conscious of when it was happening whereas before I’d never given it much thought. 🙂 When I found out what it was, I played with it a bit with my dryer and it was incredible how the MES happened so quickly with the off/on of the dryer. Anyhow, people do think you’re a little nuts lol. My colleague and I were discussing it and she asked me a few times-so do you hear it now? How about now? Can you hear that fan? :). I had to explain that, for me, it is only in the absence of other noise that my MES will kick in with background noise, usually my fan at night or my space heater at home but never the space heater st work. Anyway, that’s for the info. Fascinating…but I’m trying to work back to when it was just something I heard sometimes-no harm, no foul. 🙂
Hi Janice:
What you were experiencing is audio pareidolia, not the typical MES many older people experience. It’s cool about your clothes drier and how it gave you instant music.
Cordially,
Neil
Can I ask you a question? I hear a super high pitched humming type of thing ever so periodically. Is this tinnitus? Thx so much,
Hi Janice:
Tinnitus has a good number of different sounds and humming is one of them. I hear a very high-pitched hissy-whine sound. I can’t call it “humming” when it is high-pitched.
So yes, that sounds like a tinnitus sound.
Cordially,
Neil
And, I wouldn’t actually describe it as a humming either. Maybe more of a screech but not quite as sharp. It’s almost like the audio version of a visual likenofbelectricity passing between one thing and another. Such interesting stuff. Thx again for the info. 🙂
I’ve heard distant music or conversations since I was a child, but only through my right ear and only when my left ear is plugged or muffled. I purposely sleep on my right side so I don’t have to hear it. I’ve never had hearing problems or tinnitus. I’ve been in a soundproof booth just to see if I could hear this music in my head, I plugged my left ear and could hear it even louder than before. Does it never stop, is there anything I can do about it? Why only my right ear, and only when my left is muffled or plugged?
Hi Jessica:
I’ve never come across a person with your experiences. Most interesting. You’ve asked a bunch of good questions and I don’t know the answers.
Since you’ve had it “forever”, I think it is permanent and won’t go away unless you eventually find out exactly what is happening.
I’m curious–you hear the phantom sounds when your left ear is plugged. Is this true where it is quiet (like at night) but also duning the day when there are other sounds present? Or does it have to be quiet?
Have you had a complete audiological evaluation? I’d be interested in seeing a copy of your audiogram if you have and see whether there are any clues on it.
Cordially,
Neil
Curious, can a heat stroke caused by dehydration and lots of physical activity over a weekend cause these. I didn’t have them until this last weekend. Always starts with my hearing becomes muffled to regular sounds. Then what sounds like helicopter rotors. Then it turns into hearing my roommate and her bf arguing the same argument over and over. It’s been the same signs each time. Getting sick of hearing the argument. I also relised if it’s quiet, and I think about it. The process will start back up, just can’t stop it.
Hi Brent:
I’ve never heard of heat stroke causing MES, but maybe it can. You say it begins with your hearing muffled then a sound like helicopter rotors. To me that indicates that you are having a lack of blood flow to your brain at that point. If you lay down at that point so more blood flows to your brain, do these sounds go away in a few minutes? The longer your brain is without adequate blood-flow, the more likely you are to hallucinate and “hear” weird stuff like you are doing. This is what it seems like to me.
When it is quiet, first don’t think about the “fighting”. Second, have a source of real sound on (TV, radio, fan, etc. so your brain has something real to listen to and hopefully you won’t hear the “fighting” then.
Cordially,
Neil
I just looked this up. I am losing my mind with constant songs or made up rhythms in my head.I even find myself breathing them like humming. It is literally 24/7. It will be the last song I heard in a store or a jingle or theme song on the tv,and the same song can last for days,I go to sleep with it,wake up with it.I am on lamictal for bipolar and wondering if it’s the medicine or how to treat it. It is beyond annoying and I seriously need it to stop.Sometimes it’s just songs my head makes up,not outside songs. It is constant.Ive tried the suggestions,gum,playing it out,I can yell stop in the car and make it stop for maybe 20 seconds.I cannot live like this.
I just found this thread accidentally as googled ‘hearing music at night when it’s not there’. Was amazed to see that it’s not only me. I hear sounds liked a muted tv game show on low volume, with clapping/laughter, or sometimes it sounds like a bath running, it never really bothers me, I just wondered what it was!
Hi Emma:
From what you describe, it sounds like you have either Musical Ear Syndrome like so many other people have, or are experiencing audio pareidolia (if you can relate the phantom sounds to some constant background sound). I’m glad you are not letting it bother or worry you–now that you know what you are hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Can this come from sleep deprivation? I slept about 12 hours last week. I’m finishing grad school and I’ve been working non stop. I started hearing music coming out of my car air conditioning and thought it was strange. Then last night I was hearing music through the central air at house I’m house sitting. It’s really freaking me out but I’m glad to see it happens to others too. Is there a way to help it to stop?
Hi Jill:
Yes, sleep deprivation can certainly cause auditory hallucinations. Getting caught up on your sleep can make these go away. Just get more sleep. It’s not worth your health to pull several all nighters in a row.
Cordially,
Neil
I also hear music that isn’t there. I thought maybe it was music traveling through the ground and through my homes walls. It always sounds off in the distance. Strange thing about it is that I don’t know some of this music, like the big band or swing music. Sometimes it is like a radio talk show, complete with audience sounds. I have recently developed a really distrubing sound of a truck engine ideling close by. It can get extremely loud and my whole body vibrates with the rapid droning sound, quite annoying. I got an MRI which was normal, had steriods injected into my ear drums and been on courses of antiviral to no avail. The music can be curious as to the type but not annoying like the other sound. Dr.s have given up saying there is nothing they can do and call it all tennitis. On the hearing test, the only hearing loss was in the tone which constantly drones. Is it hearing loss when I hear this tone but it is louder than the hearing test tone so it drowns out the sound machine. I wish there was a fix for this. I do feel this music and tones are coming from the brain and Drs just don’t know how.
Hi Lorrie:
The kinds of phantom sounds you are hearing fit right into the kinds of sounds many people with MES hear. So you are quite “normal” in that respect.
When it comes to the big truck idling sound, I’d place that into the tinnitus class of sounds. Some people describe it as an 18-wheeler idling outside their window. Others describe it as an earth-mover or big tractor working outside their window. I’ve heard this kind of sound numerous times.
One of the interesting things about this low rumbling sound is that it is often accompanied by the sensation that the whole house is vibrating to the sound of the motor/machinery working. When two of your senses are telling you something is happening, its hard to believe it is all in your head–but that is the way it is.
I’ve heard from numbers of people who also–like you and me–have experienced this sensation of vibration when “hearing” such sounds.
Fortunately, my “rumbling sound” is not constant–but it comes and goes at will. Like my other tinnitus sounds, I choose not to let it bother me. It is just “there”. It’s no big deal–unless you let it become a big deal.
Very often the frequency you hear your tinnitus is near the frequency of your greatest hearing loss–so you are again “normal” in this respect.
When they are testing your hearing and you can’t distinguish the test tone from your hearing, ask them to make the test tone a double beep. That makes it much easier to distinguish from your tinnitus. Even better, some audiometers have a warble tone. That is even easier to distinguish from your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks, you make a lot of sense. You are the first one to address the vibration. I thought I had Ms or Parkinson’s because of that vibration even though there are no lesions on my brain. Drs have just dismissed these symptoms maybe because they are not up to date in this area. You have given me some peace of mind. You are also right about giving this low frequency tone too much attention as it will drive one insane with annoyance. When it is very loud, I have to go to sleep with the TV on. But mostly dont sleep when the tone is loud. I also wonder if there is an inflamation process happening when the tone is loud as I will have neck discomfort or the nerves being inflamed coming out of the spinal cord into the vertabrea in the neck. I have c6 and c7 fused with damaged nerves there as well as c5 and t1 now showing nerve damage. However the tones started before that, they are just worse now. Thanks for having this discussion, you don’t know how much it has helped!
I had one last comment to ask. Do you think that these sounds could be a vibration that the brain interpets as a tone or tones or that there could be something amiss where the nerves cross in the back of the skull from the spinal collum going to the ears?
Hi Lorrie:
I’ve never come across information leading me to believe that MES can be associated with your neck out of proper alignment such as is the case with Meniere’s disease, but it may be possible–particularly if C1 and C2 are out since those are the ones that affect the vestibulocochlear nerve.
I don’t really think it is as you ask–a vibration interpreted as a tone because if that was true, you’d feel the vibration whether you heard a tone or not–so would other people around you. But no one else seems to feel the vibration. I’ve asked my wife if she could feel any vibration when I hear such rumbling sounds accompanied by the sensation of vibration–and she never can.
That is why I think you “hear” the phantom low-pitched sound and your brain says, “That sound is usually accompanied by a corresponding vibration” and thus gives you the sensation of the vibration. Thus BOTH sensations are phantom and are not based in reality at all.
Cordially,
Neil
Again, thank you for the piece of mind you have given me. Please keep up your work and research in this area . You have helped me where several Drs were unable to. Maybe your research can lead to viable treatments which really work for those of us who have these tones on full blast at times! So happy I found this blog.
Oh my gosh. I thought I was crazy. I can hear “people talking” or “music” at night too! It can be with my white noise or without. To be honest I hear it more if dead silence. I’m 62 and have heard this for as long as I can remember. It’s been realistic enough at times I’ve actually gotten up and checked around the house. I never tell anyone because the couple of times I was made fun of. I guess misery loves company is true! LOL!
I have been hearing songs — repeated songs. I just figured out that my soul-music loving neighbor had NOT actually started playing U2 “with or without U” over and over and that it was in my head. I will have to tell him, he will get a laugh.
But I was wondering, do you ever see MES associated with sinus issues or allergies? I get seasonal allergies and my ears feel pressure and pain similar to when pressure builds up behind the ear in a plane. I do not have any hearing loss — just the allergies.
Hi Amy:
I’ve never come across MES caused specifically by allergies. But it could be caused by various drugs used to treat allergies, or from fans/air purifiers used to clean the air in houses. Would either of these apply in your situation?
Cordially,
Neil
I myself do not hear music but it just started today and I hear what sounds like a ceiling fan but only in my left ear and I don’t sleep with a ceiling fan going nor do I usually even have the ceiling fan running. I don’t have any hearing loose and this has be both concerned and qualitative. So if you have a idea of what this might be please contact me at freddazan@gmail.com. Thank you so much.
Hi Fredda:
If you are only hearing sort of a humming sound, I’d say you have tinnitus rather than Musical Ear syndrome. A humming sound is a common tinnitus sound.
Cordially,
Neil
Yesterday, I was listening to classical music all day at work, as background music, for the first time. Last night, after I turned on my air conditioner, I kept hearing faint classical music. At first, I thought it was coming from somewhere else (like outside or the neighbor’s house), so I turned off the air conditioner but it was silent. It was lot of the similar songs and sounds I had been listening to all day, so I realized it was in my head. But it was a very scary experience.
Hi Sara:
You have just experienced a classic case of audio pareidolia–your brain trying to make sense of the sounds your air conditioner was making. Nothing to be scared of at all. Shows you are human.
Cordially,
Neil
OMG! I’m so happy to learn that I’m not losing my mind and hearing voices! Actually, I am hearing voices, news programs in the distant background, music from radio stations, and A LOT of children’s programs. Which makes total sense, after reading your article. At night my toddler wakes up constantly, he has problems sleeping. He will sometimes turn on the television . So I’m always hearing my son babbling to himself at night and hearing shows like SpongeBob Squarepants playing . So at first I thought for sure he had woke up and was watching some Nick @ Nite.
All of this started happening about a month ago, right when we got a new neighbor move in the House next to us.
We live in a very old home in a suburb of Detroit, so I kept trying to figure the sound out, and I thought for sure that it had to be linked to our new neighbor. I thought maybe some wires between our homes got crossed or something from her home like her cable lines, were somehow in my attic or walls! I felt certifiablely crazy, and it just kept getting louder and more frequent. It sounded just like a television had been left on somewhere in the house, and I could hear Fox News mostly, and a lot of SpongeBob, But I heard music /radio stations all the time. Every night.
I figured I’d google this subject to try to ease my mind. I expected to find NOTHING in my search, but I was blown away when my google search came with exact results ! The first post I read was about a 37 year old female (I just turned 40, a month ago), who like myself, had young children. I was also a flight attendant for 10 years and I’m a private pilot, so I took this into consideration as well. Thinking that I may have some hearing loss due to being around jet engines so often and other loud equipment.
Then I read the part of this woman’s post which mentions the noise machine. My son has a noise machine which is on every night, even when he’s not sleeping in his room. I really got used to his noise machine and barely noticed it was on because I attributed it to normal sounds in my home. Then I read about the fans, and that was it! The fans were something not normal for me. Every home I’ve ever lived in had central A/C, except this one. This summer has been unusually hot, and I was absolutely dying in this rental home I was in. I went to Home Depot and purchased a bunch of room fans (one was positioned directly facing my head), I also purchased a portable room A/C. Between the A/C unit and all the fans, there was constant white noise from the fans around the house and the A/C and they were turned on almost 24 hrs or more, for the entire summer! The weather just cooled off recently and we have begun to start turning off these items and not needing them as often. I put all the fans away except the one by my head at night when I go to sleep. And I noticed that the phantom noises got louder and way more frequent . I cannot wait to learn more about these phantom sounds. Thank you so very much for your research and for making this website with all the info! Can you please help me doc, determining how, if any, solution can be made to stop this. Thank you!
Hi Devon:
If you turn all the fans and A/C off and your son’s sound machine, etc. do the “phantom” sounds go away? If so, and it comes back when you turn one or more of them on again, then your have audio pareidolia. If you hear these phantom sounds when it is quiet then you probably have Musical Ear Syndrome.
If you find that you have audio pareidolia, then the trick is to move the fan further from your ears to see if that will cut the “phantom” sounds. You could also try different fans as some are more prone to causing you to hear these strange sounds than others.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I just came across this article and was amazed and relieved that there are so many people that are having the same symptoms I am.
They started in 2000. I went to bed as usual but kept hearing faint music playing like a neighbor who their radio turned up. This only happened a few times over the years.
Then they stopped for a long time.
They started back up again in January this year (2018) when I moved in with my sister and nephew. Only heard them a few times a month.
I moved where I am July 1st. At first the radio was only playing a few times a week. Then almost every night. Last week it started playing anytime I’m awake with no one in my room.
I use to enjoy it asking “what are we going to listen to tonight if anything?”. Now I can’t get any sleep. I’m at my wit’s end. Sometime the songs are good. Sometimes not. And it played the same one it chooses that night over and over like a broken record.
I have a window AC in my room. Over the years I have had ceiling fans and ACs on and no radio. So why all of a sudden this year it came back and is getting worse?
I do take Effexor XR antidepressants but have taken them in the past.
My psychiatrist said in Aug it’s hallucinations. A form of schitzophrenia (however you spell it).
She said there’s meds I could take to stop it. Same they give for voices in the head. But being on the Effexor for my depression she doesn’t recommend it.
I’m so done with this I’m tempted to ask her for those meds. I gotta do something called I’m losing a lot of sleep. Tired and moody all the time.
Hi Jacky:
Are you hearing these phantom sounds only when there are fans or air conditioners on? If so, the solution is to turn them off and if the phantom sounds go away you know you have audio pareidolia which is not a psychiatric problem.
If there are no background sounds that these sounds piggyback on, then you probably have Musical Ear syndrome–again, not a psychiatric condition. Thus, in either of these cases, anti-psychotic drugs will just make you psychotic and won’t do anything for the underlying cause.
It could also be the Venlafaxine (Effexor) causing the problem. Hundreds and hundreds of people have reported getting auditory hallucinations from taking Effexor.
Personally, I don’t think you have schizophrenia at all.
Cordially,
Neil
When I had my first episode in 2000 I was on Prozac. Only one time then. Slept in that same room for 5 years.
I’ve slept with a and ac my whole life.
They stopped until I moved in with my sister and nephew in January this year.
Today is oct 4th at 3:25am. And for the first time in months there’s is no radio playing. Same account and fan going. Only difference is that I had been out of my cholesterol meds for the last week and began retaking them Monday the 1st.
On the 30th they started playing when my roommate was in the room too. She said she couldn’t hear it. So I told her about what was going on.
On Monday I was in the car with my sister. We were talking when the music started. I asked her if she had the radio on. No of course. So I told her about it. It was playing the National Anthem.
Yesterday afternoon I told my 42 year old daughter.
And as I said. I’ve taken Effexor before with no symptoms.
Thank you for replying so quickly. Appreciate it.
My experience was a couple of years ago. I had a throat abscess and went to the ER. While there they gave a steroid through my IV (I cannot remember the name of it). When I went to go to sleep that night I had insomnia, hallucinations, and heard a radio station playing, which most certainly wasn’t. It was big band type music, with an upbeat radio host, but it did keep repeating itself, like the Dr. Has mentioned. This happened for I think 2 -3 nights. It has never happened again (except for 1 time when I was on a trip), so my theory is that it was a side effect from the steroid. I researched it, and apparently they ( steroids given for various diseases and ailments) can bring on what I experienced. I didn’t like it, and hope I never go through it again. I commented so that others will be aware of the side effects.
Hi Serena:
Two common steroids–Prednisolone and Prednisone–are both reported to cause phantom sounds such as you describe. So are a number of the other steroids, so I think you are on target in your thinking.
Cordially,
Neil
I love that I’m not going crazy. Most mornings I hear the news or cartoons. I start waking up to check what kid is up. But as soon as I sit up it goes away. Last month it sound like my son was watching one of those gaming videos. It was blasting the sound was still there when I walked to the door. I opened it to tell him to turn it down . As I opened the door a big suction of air released I guess from there window fan pushing in air. The sound went away when I opened the door and the boys were both asleep. Another crazy morning I woke up and it sound like 2 people were fighting in my backyard. I jumped up to see and turned off my fan to better hear and the sound changed as soon as the fan went off and 2 birds were yelling at each other. So weird to hear English word then to have it change so fast to birds.
I have fibromyalgia, Lupus and chronic migraines. I don’t sleep good always in pain light and sound sensitive.
Wow, I never realised! I also get migraines, though mine are caused by a small Chiari malformation. Also, the sounds I hear sound like radio to me specifically – like I hear songs end and someone mumble talking in between and then more songs. Usually at night or when I’m alone in the house.
I also have mes but only when ive lacked a lot of sleep. idont no why this happens .when I wood work a lot of 11-7s I wood hear all kinds of music from the factory fans when I first noticed it I kept asking people whos got the radio on. the looked me and I was nuts. Im63 and retired. and still have it but I kinda like it
Hi Jeff:
When you get overtired, your brain does all sorts of weird things. One of them is to let you hear strange tinnitus, and it your case your audio pareidolia kicks in as it tries to make sense of the sounds your factor fans make.
If you like it, great. It’s nothing to worry about–just get more sleep!
Cordially,
Neil
My son is 7 yrs old. As he was trying to fall asleep tonight he told me he heard bells in his ears to a song. I asked him and it was jingle bells. It was playing repeating his ears. First time this has happened. He has a noise maker in his room, as does my daughter and we have one in my room.
I immediately did a google search and found this site. We walked to my room and laid down – no music. Noise maker is further away in my room. Both rooms have a ceiling fan.
Back to his room. Heard it again. We had music playing too. Turned both off and the music stopped. Turned each back on (one at a time and both) and the music was back. He finally just fell asleep with the noise maker and music.
Normal at 7?
Hi Jenn:
Yes, perfectly normal at any age. There appears to be lots of kids that hear such things from fans and other things that produce background sound. This is called audio pareidolia. It is not the typical Musical Ear Syndrome. Now that you (and he) know it is from a noisemaker or fan, you can anytime stop it by turning off the offending device if it is bothering him. Otherwise, just know that this is a normal part of being human as I explain in my article on Audio Pareidolia at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ if you haven’t already read it. It’s very interesting.
Cordially,
Neil
i just read up on the musical ear syndrome, not even close. i have exceptional hearing, better than i want in today’s society. it has nothing to do with hearing loss. i, to today believe some people’s brains are just wired differently and all you can do is learn to live with it.
Hi Nan:
What you have been experiencing most of your life is not MES but likely audio pareidolia. You can read about it in my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Cordially,
Neil
Dr., do you believe that this is also a side effect of people who have ADD? It reminds me of a dog that does not have a job to do it tends to make distraction because it’s board; so like the brain when it has nothing to do or nothing to think up on it will make up different things. Would you say most of the people who suffer from this have ADD like myself?
Hi Stephanie:
I don’t think that ADD has anything much to do with MES. Of all the thousands of people I’ve communicated with in regards to MES, only one has mentioned having ADD and MES and even then, I think her MES was caused by a drug she was taking. I think they are just two independent conditions that can at times coincidentally occur together.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I just came across this site as I had never thought to look it up. I had believed it was just me. When I lived in Korea during a time of great stress I would hear very faint music. I could not make out any lyrics but,there was always an old time genre like 40’s or 50’s,time frame. I lived on the American Army base in Seoul Korea in a house,that was built during this time so I had come to believe that it was somehow spiritual or,ghost related. I’m not a believer or have ever,had any type of interests in this but I can tell you that the music was VERY real and I had come to,enjoy it at night when going to sleep. However, since I moved the music has a,so left. Can you explain this to me or give me an idea?
Hi Nancy:
One possibility is that the “music” you were hearing was due to a fan or other constant background sound you had one in your house. Your brain tied to pattern-match the fan sound to some pattern already in its memory banks. The closest match (not close at all, but still the closest) was certain music, so you had the illusion of hearing music that was really coming from the fan. This is called audio pareidolia. You can read my article on the subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ . When you moved away you no longer had that fan running so you no longer hear it. I think this is a likely scenario.
It could also have been Musical Ear syndrome caused by the stress you were under and now that does not apply so you no longer hear it. But I’m betting the first possibility is what really happened.
Cordially,
Neil
I have had this too for a long while now. I usually hear sports broadcasts. I don’t have any hearing loss that I’m aware of. We recently moved and I have noticed it more at our new place than ever before.
We have a hepa filter running constantly as I have had allergy problems. It makes a noise similar to a fan. I don’t just hear random voices though. I hear what sounds like an actual broadcast of a sports event. I don’t just hear words here and there. I hear everything they are saying.
Hi Louise:
It’s quite possible that your HEPA filter is producing the phantom sounds you are hearing as it tries to pattern match the sounds the filter is making to known patterns in your auditory memory. The sounds don’t have to be a random words or vague words, they can be clear words like what you think is a clear broadcast. Have you noticed that the broadcast (or portions of it) repeat itself, or do you always hear new broadcasts? One of the hallmarks of audio pareidolia and musical your syndrome is that there is a lot of repetition. So I’m curious if that is what you experience as well.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m 38, male. I only really hear “raido stations in my head” when I’m awake for long periods of time. I hear the d.j. the commercials the call letters also the lyrics. I once searched my entire home for some hidden raido and was frustrated and exhausted to the point on exception of maybe I was picking up radio waves in my head as they invisibly pas through air? I haven’t tried turning on a real radio to see if I can find the station that matched the one in my head? Cool stuff.
Hi Micah:
When you get overtired, your brain often “hallucinates” and you hear phantom sounds (or see phantom things). So if you only experience your MES when you are overtired, that is likely the explanation.
Cordially,
Neil
Many of the people on the thread seem to have the same or parts of it. In 2002, I started to hear symphony music, and then I thought to myself I am in-tuned with the earth on a harmonic level speed up to 2019, I am hearing all kind of music to which I can sing words to it and play along, I am also hearing people talking or even sometimes calling my name but no one is around!
Hi Christopher:
When you hear these phantom sounds is there any constant background sound around such as a fan, air conditioner, motor running, etc.? If so, then you likely are experiencing audio pareidolia.
If there is no constant background sound around when you hear these sounds, then you are likely experiencing Musical Ear Syndrome.
Some people hear their name being called when they are anxious about someone calling them–and they are not in a position to answer–such as being in the shower. Or think they hear the phone ring when they are in the shower because they are in no condition to answer it and are worried about not hearing it, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear not only a variety of music but lyrics, too. AND I hear news items and sports scores and guest interviews, all in a sequence just as with a radio.
Hi Dick:
It’s cool how our brains can give us the “whole program” and yet it is all phantom.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for giving me some peace of mind 🙂
I’ve been wondering if Ive been going crazy. For me when I’m on boats with heavy engine sounds I hear violins playing. I’ve never dared to tell anyone in case it sounds silly, but my mind trying to make sense of a non useful sound seams legit. Or just trying to covering it up. Next time I’m on the boat I’ll try to embrace it more and actually listen, instead of thinking about maybe going crazy.
Thank you 🙂
i too have no difficulty in hearing.but whenever i turn on my ceiling fan, a faint ,soothing and beautiful music starts playing.it is the same wired music that keeps on playing which does not even sound boring but relaxing.though it feels weird as no one else can hear it while i do.
Hi Pupai:
What you are experiencing is called audio pareidolia. It is a natural condition and nothing to be worried about.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I like reading everybody’s comments about MES and the different variants, as well as your responses. Over the last several months I’ve heard music playing very softly — when there wasn’t any . The songs are enjoyable and of very different types and rhythms . But I’ve never heard them before. And I can’t even read music!! I play guitar and a few other instruments a little bit. I’ve written a handful of songs in my life. Could this be my creative music writing coming out this way? The songs are usually instrumentals but I can occasionally hear a few words. But I don’t understand the language. I have been under a lot of stress during this time. I wonder if this might have something to do with it.
Hi Will:
These songs and music definitely come from your brain/memory. If you only hear these sounds when a fan or motor is running, then you have audio pareidolia. If there is no background sound causing them, then you have Musical Ear Syndrome. And yes, stress can be one of the factors causing the latter. Either way, your brain is a wonderful organ, and comes up with so many creative variations.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m 24, my hearing is exceptional, however I suffer from tinnitus and I can also hear music and voices when I try and sleep.
Hi Casey:
If you have normal hearing, you likely do not have Musical Ear Syndrome, but are experiencing audio pareidolia. You can read more about it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ .
Cordially,
Neil
I am so happy I stumbled across this. I agree, I hear distant radio stations playing … and it sounds like its someone changing the stations randomly. I will hear parts of a song or a commentary and then it switches to another station. very weird.
Im 25 years old and I’ve been hearing Mexican Tejano music or Country music in my ears since I was about 17 years old. I do not have any medical condition or hearing problems. This is my first time reading similar experiences. It’s honestly a relief knowing I’m not crazy. I don’t tell many people about this. My family has no clue and maybe four really close friends. They don’t take it serious though. Recently I’ve been hearing it a little more louder than usual. And l can’t take it because it really does make you feel crazy. I started typing in exactly what I hear in Google and it brought me here. Please help! Is there a cure or what are the steps to take to control this???
Hi Teitum:
The first thing you need to do is figure out whether your phantom music is due to audio pareidolia or from Musical Ear Syndrome, or some other cause. If its from audio pareidolia, the cure is simple–turn off the offending fam/motor/whatever or move out of earshot of it.
If you have Musical Ear Syndrome, then read my comprehensive article on the subject and follow the suggestions near the end of that article. You can read it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/ .
Cordially,
Neil
I am not sure how my problem(?) fits in with everyone elses but I am 75 years old–my husband of 54 years died unexpectedly last November and has me in a constant state of grief–just trying to deal with our home and everything else that we used to take care of together. I feel that I am starting to get better but for no reason that I can think of—- I awake at different times every night and its on those wakings that I lay there and hear music. I have good hearing and nothing running and most nights it takes me a while to realize that I really am not hearing music. At first, I thought maybe the younger neighbors were playing a radio or stereo but now I know that its all me. Normally I hear one type of music for that night and the next, it will be different again—I have heard 40’s music, big band era music, circus tunes one night–and it just goes on and on. Before this hearing music started, I was actually having visual hallucinations—I would hear my husband say in the kitchen making coffee or getting the kids ready for school and I had a hard time accepting that they were hallucinations—they were getting stronger and stronger so I finally went to my Doctor and he prescribed a low dose of Zoloft and that worked and the visions stopped. Then, shortly after, the music started. I was starting to think that maybe I was a little crazed in the head but maybe this is a real thing, maybe associated with my loss–I am not sure. I will read more about audio pareidolia.
Hi Marcia:
I’m sorry you lost your husband. You are still in the midst of the grieving process. It takes time (up to a year or more) to get over the grief of losing a spouse–especially when you had a good marriage of 54 years.
Since you had hallucinations with one sense, it shouldn’t be surprising that you’d have hallucinations with another sense–your ears this time. Actually, Sertraline (Zoloft) may be the culprit. Hundreds and hundreds of people have reported auditory hallucinations from taking Sertraline. You could stop taking the Sertraline and see whether your phantom music goes away in the next two weeks or so. It’s worth a try.
Cordially,
Neil
I live in a condo unit on the top floor.
About a week ago, I started hearing one country western tune playing over and over 24/7. Sounds like someone whistling the tune accompanied by a heavy bass rhythm. About 3 seconds after it ends, it starts again. I hear it worse when I put my head on my pillow at night to sleep so I have downloaded calming sounds to listen to on my iPhone until I fall asleep, like rain hitting a window. I have walked from one end of my unit to the other trying to find the source. I have crawled on the floor trying to record the noise with my iPhone because I was sure if was my downstairs neighbor. Nothing was recorded. I even asked other unit owners if they were hearing the loud music from my neighbor. None of them are hearing what I hear.
Two days ago I was driving with no radio on and heard the same song in my car. I stopped to have breakfast at a local diner and heard it again the whole time I was there. Today I was in the grocery store and heard it again. Am I going crazy or is this another way MES can manifest? I have been diagnosed with moderate hearing loss and have hearing aids which I rarely wear. Also I have been experiencing daily “ice pick” headaches for about 3 months and have been to the doctor about them. Could this all be related? Lastly I live alone and have been depressed over recently losing my job and stressed that I am not having luck finding another one.
Hi Pat:
What you are experiencing definitely sounds like musical ear syndrome. It’s possible that the headaches are related to your phantom sounds as well. Furthermore, stress and depression are also triggers.
You are doing the right thing in listening to other environmental sounds to help take your mind off your MES and also to reduce the contrast between it and total silence. During the day you may find that if you wear your hearing aids your MES won’t occur as much, as often, or as loud, but at night when you take your hearing aids off it may come back full volume again.
I don’t think you’re crazy at all. You just have some “crazy” ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
What has brought me here is a “phantom” musical experience that would seem to be MES but after reading all the comments here (I’ve also read your excellent articles) I’m not sure it totally fits in with the definition, and I would be very interested to hear what you think. The last few days I’ve been putting a musical projection together on the computer which involved listening to the same snippet of music (between 10 and 50 seconds approx. each time) several times while changing the times, fades, volume etc. to get it just right. I started noticing that when the music snippets came to an end, I kept on hearing exactly the same ones, repeating over and over again, very distinct and identical to the real thing, more faintly and coming from a distinct place about 1.5 metres away from me. I did realise this must be in my head, although the sound was so real and consistent that I doubted it and wondered whether it might be something to do with the sound of the computer programme itself. But it wasn’t! This hasn’t happened to me before, but it happened over and over again with all the music snippets, and always when I had been at the programme for some time: if I just listen to the slides offhand it doesn’t happen at all.
Some background, not sure how much of this is relevant. Female, age 56. I have a lot of sensitive hearing issues. Tinnitus 24/7 except when in a natural setting (wind in trees, traffic etc.), had it for 2 ½ years. I cope with it well and have no anxiety or depression problems. I have had a handful of instances of auditory pareidolia in my life, some of them in the last few weeks. I have synesthesia and practically all sounds are visual to me as well as auditory, I also have auditory-tactile synesthesia so sound makes a big impression on me basically! (I see you mention that you’re from a family of synesthetes). I’ve been diagnosed with odynacusis (I think that’s the English term for it, “algiacusia” in Spanish, the one where certain types of sounds and loud volumes cause physical pain) and with mild hyperacusis, and I also have misophonia. Music is very real to me in dreams. I have a good ear for music. When in a relaxed situation for most of my life I’ve occasionally had auditory hallucinations of voices talking (always the voices of people I know very well), no problem with that. I can’t associate these manifestations with a time of anxiety/depression at all. Audiometry testing shows I can’t hear the highest pitches, about 5% loss, but I believe it’s been like that since I was young.
Thank you!
Hi Plumi:
You certainly have “interesting” auditory experiences. I think you may have a condition called diplacusis. Diplacusis is where you hear something repeated twice. The differences may be in timing or pitch. So you may hear two different pitches of sound in each ear. Or you may hear the same thing repeated a second time.
In your case, you seem to have an “extreme” version of diplacusis called diplacusis echoica. At least that is what I think you have–although it manifests itself a bit differently than most other cases of diplacusis echoica.
You can read more about it in my article on diplacusis at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/diplacusisthe-strange-world-of-people-with-double-hearing/ . See if what I say makes sense with your condition.
Then again, you may have something different–possibly a combination of diplacusis and audio pareidolia unique to you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, thank you so much for replying! I’ve read your article on diplacusis but in fact I don’t identify with any of it at all (happily: it sounds horrible for those musicians!) In fact the “second hearing” of the music isn’t like an echo but begins when the whole track has finished, never after each individual sound. It happened to me again this morning actually, after listening to the same track I’d put together! It was really beautiful actually to sit and listen to that very faint music (just a series of notes really), really paying attention to it and seeing where it “went”. It lasted about a minute and a half perhaps, the same sequence over and over again (it’s the theme of Blue Danube), then it got fainter and fainter and eventually faded away. It’s only ever happened to me these few times, with this same music. I was actually surprised you thought it could be “something”… although I guess that now I think about it my hearing isn’t really typical (and I’m extremely focused on sounds, if I wasn’t so focused I’m sure I would never have noticed it) so I bet your excellent judgement is spot on, it’s just something one-off or unique! 😀 Thanks again and I’ll follow your site!
Ah, and is this relevant perhaps? You know those voices speaking that you hear when you’re very tired or about to fall asleep, sometimes the voice of someone you know well… just recently I’ve taken to hearing two of them at once!
Hi Plumi:
No, I’ve never heard voices when I’m tired or about to fall asleep so I can’t identify with you on that. Do other people have the same experience? I know that if I’m overtired, I’ll hear loud roaring tinnitus like a freight train is about to burst through the wall beside me. That can be scary–but a good night’s sleep fixes that. I know others that have the same experience.
Cordially,
Neil
I thought hearing the voice of someone you know talking non-stop when you’re tired or about to go to sleep was more common, perhaps something everyone experiences from time to time, but it seems it isn’t then! The freight train tinnitus sounds horrible, I’m glad it goes away after getting to sleep, sleep cures so many things, doesn’t it?
Ok, I think I suffer more than anyone who has posted here!
Here’s why: when I was small (around the age of 5) my mom and dad could not afford health insurance so we (my four siblings and I) had no choice but to endure and live with our malaise.
I started out having hallucinations like bugs crawling all over me. I also suffered with green pus draining out of my right ear. But when I turned seventeen, my father got his Veteran’s back pay and I was able to have surgery.
As I grew up I realized that I was hearing tones in both ears. This gradually turned into tones, sounds of ball bearing bouncing, and a ‘white noise’ sound like an old TV tuned to a dead channel.
Fast-forward to now; along with my other sounds I have the sounds of either a leaf blower, or a light or heavy drone of an airplane descending above my head.
As of the past year, the tone in my left ear has gotten extremely loud to the point where I now have to use earbuds in both ears when using the phone, and some manner of head sets when listening and viewing.
Conversations are a joke! Before my left ear’s tone got louder, I had to have anyone I was conversing with facing me so I could watch their lips as they spoke. Now, I practically have to keep begging people to speak up even being face-to-face. Which is so damned embarrassing and I don’t know why, but–for me–it invokes a feeling of degradation.
Well, that’s my story in a nutshell.
Oops, I forgot to mention that, although it has not been diagnosed, I believe also that I have Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). It started about a year ago.
One night it was loud enough that I could sing along (Rocket Man by Elton John)!
My MES seemed like it competes with all the other sounds in my ear because it gets louder when I try to drown it out!
And I must say I love it when it does show up. Because it is sporadic and random with its coming and going.
And believe me, I have tried to ‘will’ it to appear–no luck!
I’ve been dealing with this for some time now and glad I finally found this thread. But I figured this would go away soon and it hasn’t in probabaly over a year now. I’m a 36 year old male and every single night of my life, mostly in the early morning hours before its time to get up for work, I have this musical problem in my ears. Sounds like a radio station going on in my head of music that I do know and listen to on a regular basis. That being said and others have mentioned, the leg pains, the restlessness all through the night, the music in my ears, jumping leg spasms and tossing and turning, I just cant get a good nights sleep, EVER! I don’t know where to start or to try some over the counter sleep aids. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you
Hi Justen:
Are you saying you have heard this phantom music from as far back as you can remember as a child? That would be very unusual.
Do you find this happens when you have a fan or air conditioner or furnace running in the background? And that this phantom sound goes away if they are not running? If so, that is audio pareidolia.
I don’t see how the restless leg problems you have are related? Are you saying you think they are related, or just that you also have this problem?
Are you on any medications for anything that might cause the phantom sounds?
I need to know more about your situation before I can figure out what may be going on with you.
Cordially,
Neil
I recently experienced Musical Ear Syndrome. I’m 52 and have never experienced it prior to my recent event. I suffer from periodic, extreme bouts of insomnia … this past week I found myself without being about to sleep for four straight days. On the fourth day, while attempting to simply function at work, I began to hear the music. As others have mentioned, it was only in the presence of some white noise like that from a table fan, computer fan or anything else that I would hear the music. Mist in the shower hitting the shower curtain also triggered it. It was so strange and a little scary at first and until I found out what it was. As mentioned, musical ear syndrome only occurred this one time and obviously via so me mechanism brought on by the very real trauma (mental/emotional/physical) that is remaining awake for four straight days. I was also very fascinated by it and found myself wandering around my home at night seeing what sorts of music might appear. LOL … I was also *very* terrified that I was stuck with the syndrome as I would hate to have to live with that every night and day. Fortunately, after I got some sleep? The phenomenon disappeared. But what a trip!
Hi Joel:
You have a form of MES called audio pareidolia–caused by constant background sounds such as fans as you found out. It is nothing to be worried about, but in your case, no doubt brought on by your high levels of stress from not getting enough sleep. You can also get a roaring kind of tinnitus from being overtired–really scary–but it disappears when you get enough sleep.
Cordially,
Neil
starting friday i was having severe anxiety and my thought were literally all over the place and thats when i started hearing a song in my head n ever since it just there and it can also be different types music but i know everyone that plays. i have perfect hearing and everything.i used to have bad headaches so i dont know.plz help me so i know im not crazy😭
Hi ZZ:
I’m sure you are not crazy. But severe anxiety can cause all sorts of things to happen. I think what you are experiencing is not Musical Ear Syndrome, but something more like earworms–where you hear stuff going round and round in your mind, rather than “hearing” it in your auditory circuits.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m a 35 year old male who recently in the last year have been hearing a mans voice whispering my name. It’s to the point where I have pulled out my gun thinking someone is in my house. Multiple times. Looking under beds in closets etc. I have had headaches which turn to migraines if not medicated with excedrin daily. Recently I have had very bad depth perception but they say I have 20/20 vision. I’ve thought it was a ghost. A hacker which might be coming through on a Bluetooth connection etc. any help will greatly help my sanity and put me at peace
Also I only seem to hear it at my house
Hi Rocky:
Is this whispering a neutral tone, or is it an evil type of tone? If the former, it can be related to anxiety. Are you particularly anxious and high-strung?
Since you only hear it while at home, is there any background sound that could be causing your brain to translate this sound into a whispering name calling sound? For example, if it only occurs when a certain fan or motor is running, that could be the origin of this sound. If you turn that sound off, does the whispering also stop?
Let me know what you find out.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m wondering if I am experiencing this. I have done factory work for about 4 years now. Year one was spent in a place that did not play music, it was loud but not loud enough to mandate earplugs, so we did not wear them. Then for the next 3 years to now I have worked in a place where we do have to wear earplugs, but they play music. Recently I purchased a set of “earplug headphones” because they play the same music week after week, same songs at the same time etc. So anyway today was day 2 of being able to choose my own music. The earplugs work well and seem to block out what I imagine they are supposed to. I hope. I play the music so I can just hear it clearly as long as I’m not causing an air tool to make noise for more than a brief time. But both days now it’s like the music keeps going after work. I work 10 hours and then it’s just non stop after. Like a little spotify in my head playing snippets of songs. I think it might be causing a headache. It’s a little concerning.
Hi Shelby:
The first thing you need to determine is whether you are “hearing” these sounds just in your head, or you hear them as coming from your ears. If the former, you could just be experiencing “earworms”. If you hear them as though they were coming from your ears, then you likely have MES. And if they are superimposed on existing background sounds, you are experiencing audio pareidolia.
For example, when I used to drive my old jalopy down the freeway, I’d crank the radio up so I could hear it over the wind noise–I’d be listening to classical music and had to have the volume way up since I’m functionally deaf. Then when I’d turn the radio off, the wind noise took on the quality of the classical music, and I continued to hear “classical” music for miles and miles–but the radio was off. That’s audio pareidolia in action. I knew it wasn’t real music, but in was very pleasant just the same.
No matter which scenario above fits your case, none of them are anything to worry about. Once you understand them, its no big deal.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello there, ive just stumbled on to this site and i am blown away. Yes i have some hearing loss, prob too much, tennitus, and the “radio stations” change from mexican to jazz and classical and classic rock. It is not allowing me to sleep sometimes and driving me nuts. Is there any cure to any and all of this, i dont find it enjoyable at all. Infact it is most annoying. Im just happy i finally found an answer now, ive taken apart my a/v system numerous time thinking it was coming down the cable to the speakers or something. Help.
Hi Scott:
Have you read the companion article on MES at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/
Read this through and follow the principles given near the end.
Cordially,
Neil
Tonight it happened the loudest. While microwaving dinner, I could hear a clarinet concerto playing. I ran to each electronic device to see where it was coming from. It seemed just out of reach. When the microwave turned off, it was gone. I’ve been having various music playing in my ears, esp when the main house heater is running but now during the day. I’ve had this happen in the past and having tinnitus in one or both ears as well as clicking that I’ve gotten use to. Plus, my hearing test come back very high and sensitive. I had an extensive, painful surgery 3 weeks ago that has required me to be taking pain medication. And that’s when it clicked for me why I have been hearing the music lately….when I saw your book about Opiods and phantom sounds. I’ve been taking regular doses of Oxycodone (Percocet). What a relief to know I don’t have an added unknown problem! I will embrace it in the mean time and will pray for sweet relief for everyone who had battled this frightening and life altering condition for so long!
Hi Jen:
It sounds like you have audio pareidolia generated by the sounds your microwave makes. Nothing to be worried about. You also have it when the furnace is on it seems.
You may also have ear issues because of the Opioids. If you hear soft sounds others can’t hear and they are sharper/harsher than they normally would be, then I think you also have a touch of hyperacusis.
Cordially,
Neil
I cannot tell you how incredibly relieved I am to have found this explanation. About five years ago, my Mother began experiencing auditory hallucinations, which turned out to be the first sign of her dementia and very sadly, her rapid decline and demise due to this disease. As a chronic insomnia sufferer, I haven’t paid much attention to strange noise or sensations after a sleepless night or series of the same until my Mom’s diagnosis. Sincethen, and particularly when I experience the “radio station” syndrome, I have been frankly almost too frightened to even Google. I finally overcame this ridiculous ostrich approach just now, as I found myself experiencing this symptom while sitting at my desk after another sleepless night! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Hi Lisa:
Once you know what is happening, you can get a wonderful sense of relief–and for some people, that is all it takes for their phantom music to go away. At least, it won’t bother you anymore.
Cordially,
Neil
I am 37 and I hear bagpipes
not sure if thats because im scottish
or maybe the Drone is stuck in my head permenantly now
I am 26 years old, and anytimeni hear any type of idle sounds i hear full blown songs songs ive heard in the past , ive heard conversations and i can hear every lyric to any song i wanted to as if its a live playlist that i control because it doesnt happen its like it happens on cue watever and whenever i wanna hear absong i can use this MES to generate, orchestrate songs and words whatever and however i want has it ever been to this point with anyone else or am im the only who freaks out about it like i am going crazy, i figured i was actually losing a bit of my mind , at first i thought i was going crazy at once until i discovered this MES.,
I can hear anything from a vent, water spout, wind, car idle, literaly anything that can produce enough length of time to orchestrate anything i can even make up my own melpdys and songs which is frightening at times please tell me this is normal! Somebody please email me and discuss this one on one with me with near the same exact MES and more knowledge than me im new to this knowledge and this M.E.S has been happening going on about 5vyears now andbits only progressing
Hi Marky:
I’m pretty sure what you are experiencing is called audio pareidolia where your brain tries to make sense of continuous background sounds by matching them to patterns already stored in your brain. Some of these pattern matches are way off so you really hear a car’s idling sound but your brain matches it to a piece of music, so that is what you hear in your head.
You don’t have true Musical Ear Syndrome, but audio pareidolia. You can read more about it from the link in the last paragraph in my article.
You seem to have it far more than most people with audio pareidolia. The link to the article you need to read is https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m glad Google led me here. I’m a 27 year old woman. For the past couple of years I’ve been sleeping with a fan or white noise to force my brain to focus on something other than anxious thoughts. Starting this week, if I have either on I start hearing really complex jazz music – particularly instrument solos. I have no musical ability but I have always loved jazz; the music I think is randomly made up as I go, as it’s nothing I remember hearing and it uses different instruments whether it’s white noise, pink noise, or my fan. It’s pleasant but distracting, since unlike a normal song it never gets back to the main melody. I started up on birth control this week – any link to that in your research? Hopefully I find another way to fall asleep…
This might have happened once before as a teenager – I randomly started hearing Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds while in bed. It was very confusing since no one else in the house was up, but oddly comforting given that I was dealing with ALL of the teenaged angst that evening (repeatedly hearing that “every little thing is gonna be alright” helped). So maybe it is related to hormone fluxes for me.
Hi Caitlyn:
What you are hearing when the fans are on is a phenomenon called audio pareidolia where your brain tries to match the sounds you are hearing to a pattern it already has in its memory, even if the match is not a close match at all. Typically, the match is so far off, its not even in the ballpark! Hence fans sound like various kinds of music.
Why not play real music to help you fall asleep. Chose some soothing, relaxing music and listen to that instead of the fans?
I don’t see a likely connection to birth control pills–since you just started taking them and this has been going on for 2 years. But certain birth control pills can cause you to hear phantom sounds. I doubt it is your hormones acting up. But it could well be related to the anxiety and stress you feel resulting in the audio pareidolia.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, i experience something like this whenever i wear my headphones, tho it mainly happens after i watch a video and only silence is left. But something that is definitely different is that it sounds almost like a military intercom transmission. I can sometimes make out the words but for the most part its muffled. Is this normal for this type of situation?
Hi Laurel:
I’ve never heard anyone hearing such phantom sounds when wearing headphones, but I don’t see why it can’t be possible. When you hear these “intercom transmissions” is there any faint background sound coming through the headphones or not? Or is it completely silent? Tell me more about this so I can better understand exactly what is going on.
Cordially,
Neil
Just stumbled on this site, very informational!
I’ve known of my mild case of tinnitus for a number of years now, but just over this last year mostly have noticed the ‘voices’ (I like to say to sound crazy hah) It can change quite a bit, but seems as described. Many times I can make out songs (I’d say 90% word for word) other times it’s more like a tv show or radio show, with laughing audience – others like a news or weather report, or even a ‘masked voice’ describing something like ‘Cold Case Files’ would do.. Often I can make out distinct words, tunes, music, which can be a bit disturbing at times either because of swearing you heard it before or vice versa. Lately, after the numerous fires around leading to increased police/fire activity I’ll often hear sirens also.. I can also generally figure out the source if I try hard enough.. But hey, sometimes it’s more fun to be the odd ball out -a while back I mentioned the voices in my head, and had someone comment oh, yeah, I get those too. without a 2nd though I looked over and said, ‘Do yours argue with themselves?” Once I saw the shocked look I turned back and said, “hmm..” and wondered off, laughing to myself the whole time..
I’ll also add that I’ve been a ‘techie’ almost my whole life, numerous computers often in my room. Many years ago, I did something stupid, and ended up on house arrest for a short period of time, with the ‘bracelet’ on my leg. I tell you what, that was a wild week! Sleeping with a running computer just feet away from me with the electronic device on my leg, I had the most vivid, realistic dreams ever! and I’ve always had some ‘lucid dreams’ but these were unreal, numerous times I’d wake up and it would take quite some time to figure out it was just a dream, either having to ask someone about a certain instance or something said, or by going thru it in my mind pecking away at details to find that ‘key’ proving it unreal, like the door opening from the left instead of right, parking lot behind instead of in front.. Not sure if there is any connection between this and the ‘musical ear’ but to me it seems to be on the same level, maybe just because of how the brain works, but I’ve for instance used the same methods of picking away to find that it is not ‘reality’.
I hear very distinct Baseball radio announcers, who I listen to when I’m on my CPAP at night. It’s always when my right ear is against the pillow. It goes away if I lift my head up. It’s crystal clear. My brain is doing a full on major league baseball broadcast. It’s freaky.
It’s the voices of the broadcasts I normally listen to, but I’m not talking about the radio being on, it’s off when this happens.
Hi NHE:
If you only hear the “radio announcers” when your CPAP machine is on and running, then you probably have audio pareidolia and not Musical Ear Syndrome.if this is the case, it’s a faint background motor were fan sounds that are causing the audio pareidolia. Therefore, if you turn the CPAP machine off the “radio announcers” should immediately stop. If they don’t, then you probably have Musical Ear Syndrome.
Cordially,
Neil
Oh my gosh, this is so incredibly helpful. I hope you are still commenting.
I have OCD and a morbid fear of schizophrenia – so this symptom has been a tough one for me! Very frightening. About 4 months ago, I started on Luvox, which really has helped with my OCD, but is it possible that it could be contributing to MES or tinnitus or am I just experiencing audio pareidolia? I feel like my senses are working on overdrive now . I started noticing white noises that I never used to notice (grinding sound of my laptop, refrigerator kicking on and off, etc). But this came after I had my first strange experience. I was laying in bed one night with the ceiling fan on and I swore I heard chatter or the radio on downstairs. Was my daughter on her phone? Went to go check. Nope! OMG, small freak out. About the same time, I started noticing ringing and fullness in my ears too – mostly at night when going to bed (when it’s quiet). So, I can only assume this is tinnitus? Now, I experience times when I swear I hear my husband has his radio on, but only to find it’s him typing on his keyboard or it’s the sound from his portable heater. I also experience sounds like the tv is on or even chatter when the furnace kicks in or even a hair dryer . It’s so faint, like you can’t make it out and find yourself trying to lean in to hear better. Yes, I’ve opened windows too thinking it could be our neighbors outside – to find the source. HOPING it’s someone and that you aren’t hearing things. For those of us that struggle with anxiety anyway these symptoms can be quite frightening. Based on what I’m describing, would you say this is a form of MES or audio pareidolia? Have you heard any correlation between a SSRI and tinnitus?
Thank you!
Hi Pam:
Fluvoxamine (Luvox) can certainly cause you to hear phantom sounds including tinnitus. So it is very possible that the Fluvoxamine is the culprit. SSRIs cause tinnitus in numbers of people.
However, it is also likely that you are experiencing audio pareidolia. You can easily tell. For example, if the portable heater is causing it, just turn it off and the phantom sounds should immediately disappear. If they do, you have audio pareidolia. If they don’t, then it could me MES or it could be due to the drug causing you to hear phantom sounds.
The fact that you feel your “senses are working on overdrive” indicates that your auditory system is in overdrive too. I’d say that was probably due to the Fluvoxamine. Maybe getting your doctor to change to a different drug will let this go away.
If it’s audio pareidolia (as a secondary effect of the drug), once you try turning things off and it stops, then you can safely ignore those sounds and not worry about them as you know their origin.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil! Yes, I only notice it with fans or appliance noises. They stop when the source stops. They told me that it might be the Buspar I’m on, so I’m going to try that first. If that doesn’t help, I’m going to adjust my luvox dosage and see it resolves. Thank you SOOOOO much!
Hi Pam:
Since it stops when you stop an appliance, then you have audio pareidolia, not Musical Ear Syndrome.
Since it is audio pareidolia, I don’t think it is necessarily tied to one of the drugs you are taking. I’d like to learn more–so if stopping either of the drugs makes it go away, let me know.
Cordially,
Neil
The buspar did not make a difference after a week of lowering the dose. Actually, I noticed an increase of my anxiety. So, I’m going back to my normal dose of buspar. I’d like to try the luvox next. I still have lots of fullness in my ears – almost like they need to pop all the time – similar to what you experience when in an airplane. So, I agree, I’m most likely experiencing audio pareidolia. But, some of these hearing/ear symptoms may be related to my SSRI too. Ugh, so frustrating!
Hello! I was born in 1987. My mother, father, & I lived on a mountain top in east tennessee. I can remember from age 3 or 4 hearing distinctly an am radio station. It was talk radio. Sometimes it was a baseball game, other times the radio host talking, sometimes he would have a guest, & other times music. I could never make out what they were saying or could I identify the music lyrics. The music seems to go on at a greater length than ordinary music. Sometimes there were no lyrics. The music was definitely intelligently made tho. I could hear it best at night when it was quiet. I would get up & prowl trying to find the source of the music but it seemed to always be in another room. I asked my parents why they had a “secret tv” & of course said something to the affect of “silly little girl we dont have a secret tv”. We had one of those super huge old satellites from the late 80s in the yard & I liked to think “i can hear the satellite in my brain!” In 1993 we left the mountain house & moved to a town. The phantom radio would come & go @ much lesser occurances & not nearly as loud. I eventually w age stopped having this. Fast forward to 2013. I am 25 years old have just moved back to tennessee from illinois. I am living in a trailer w a large antenna attached to the trailer. This trailer & antenna i later learned were products of the early 80s. I am hearing the radio again. I havent even thought of the radio thing since I was 8 or 9 years old. The radio is exactly the same regarding being distant & not able to make out the muffled lyrics or words. I find an old hand held radio & try to dial in to what im hearing. Never could find it. I kept a log of the times it came on & went off. Always in sync w the central heat & air. Altho i remember this phenomenon as a child I convince myself I am latently mentallly ill & submit myself to the care of a psychiatrist. I was placed on a slew of trial and error psychotics & antidepressants over the course of 6 years. I gained 100lbs from insulin resistance over that time & after struggling to rationalize the toll it was taking on my body for the sole purpose of just not hearing radio sounds @ night i decided to ween myself off the medicine. I heard no radio during that 6 year time. The medication was pretty rough on me I was numb to everything no creativity no emotions very dull prediabetic. I also became an alcoholic in that time during treatment. I had never had a problem w alcohol before & I could not stop drinking even tho I wanted to. About 2 or 3 months after ceasing antipsychotics & being on no other medication I was able to easily stop the alcoholism & also the radio came back. I feared myself to be psychotic but just decided to let it be. I had no other “psychotic” symptom other than the radio & figured if thats the worst thing to come from it then whatever. It was not worth gaining 100lbs & destroying my life to stop hearing a distant am radio. I now live in the typical house you see in a rural area. Its very nice. There is an old satellite in the back yard. The radio i hear in this house isnt very frequent. Sometimes 80s, sometimes 70s, most of the time 50s. The other night it was in the style of the monkees & i had to laugh because the language is almost like swedish or something. One night it was the loudest I had ever heard in my life & it was most definitely early 2000s nu metal in english. This also gave me a laugh because I was never into nu metal & wondered “if this is my mind why choose nu metal?!” If this phenomenon is indeed my brain then wow. What a strange machine the brain is. I am visiting w friends in chicago currently. I have been here for 3 days & no radio sounds at all. I am staying in a coach house not far from where i lived ages 10 – 24 (the years of my life i stopped hearing the radio & had even forgotten about it) Sometimes i joke w myself i will try to recreate the music & make a million dollars on the catchy rhythms. I am nearly 2 years out on no medication i have dropped 50lbs doing absolutely nothing. I have never created cleaner or more creative art work or felt better emotionally, physically, rationality wise overall. Just a normal 34 year old cat lady who paints tiny things & can hear a weird radio in east tennessee.
Hi “Cat Lady”:
Thanks for your story. It should help others realize that hearing the “radio” can be due to audio pareidolia where your brain pattern-matches constant background sounds like a fan-running or furnace or air-conditioner and the closest match sounds like a radio in the distance.
I think that in the places you’ve stayed where you didn’t hear the radio, the fans didn’t have the same sound pattern so your brain didn’t match it to a radio but to a normally-sounding fan.
Now that you know what the sounds are–you can safely ignore them (or listen to them if you like them) and not worry about them.
Some people, if it is a bedroom fan that causes the problem, just switch the fan off or get another fan. Different brands have different sounds and certainly not all cause audio pareidolia. If it is a furnace or A/C, changing them may not be a reasonable option.
One more thing. I think the reason you never heard the “radio” while you were on the drugs/alcohol is that by numbing your brain, it didn’t produce the “radio” sounds–but as you said, you didn’t feel much either.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello I have had this for years i’m now 38, at first it would freak me out I thought I could hear the next doors party or something but when I started hearing songs I have never heard of and were really good I started focusing on them…the singing from matchbox20 has the same thing and said some of his songs came from there. Rob Thomas singer I meant.
Hello good morning, I’m so glad to find out about audio pareidolia! Could this be why I’m experiencing This lovely music? I’m 40 years old with pretty good hearing, and just always figured I had this musical creativity that was one of my talents because I would make up little hums, and ditties, but for the past couple of years, I noticed while in the shower I started hearing classical music! I thought, “what in the world” at first. Am I imagining this, or am I creating this with what I’m hearing? Which were a loud restroom ceiling fan and water from shower running down my drain with the help of the lovely acoustics in there, haha and today I heard it while I washed my dishes. I came to the realization that it was the water creating beautiful classical music… does this sound like audio pareidolia to you?
Or am i just one of those people that notices the art and beauty in everything.. because i also see objects and faces in random objects. I always assumed it was my creative side.
Hi Lydia:
It sounds like audio pareidolia to me if the music stops when the fan and/or water stop running.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if creative people tend to have audio pareidolia more often than other people do. After all, it is a matter of pattern matching and creative people see patterns in things that others totally miss.
You’ve GOT to be creative if you can hear classical music in shower noise! All I hear is the hissing of the water.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I hear TV voices twice (double hearing) when the TV is on and I hear muffled sound when there’s a lot of noise, especially people’s voices outside. I had head trauma, and I have tinnitus and epilepsy. Could it be audio pareidolia?
Hi Nina:
If you are hearing your TV (or other) sounds twice, that wouldn’t be audio pareidolia. Rather that would be diplacusis, specifically diplacusis echoica. You can read more about this fascinating subject in my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/diplacusisthe-strange-world-of-people-with-double-hearing/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hello. I’m 30. I started having tinnitus two months ago. Weeks ago I started hearing music in my head at night and also music from white noises at the same time. It also started during a period of stress but even after 3 weeks of water in the ears I could barely hear. Is there a chance it will cure? Are there any medications that can be tried to eliminate the phenomenon? My situation is difficult because of this.
Hi Lee:
I need more clarification about your situation. What caused your tinnitus two months ago? What did your tinnitus sound like?
Then you say “weeks ago” you started hearing music in your head. Are you talking about music that goes round and round in your brain, colloquially called “ear worms”, or are you talking about “hearing” phantom music such as with Musical Ear Syndrome?
When you hear music from white noise (or other soft background sounds such as fans or motors running), that is audio pareidolia.
These are four different conditions, and I need to understand better which ones you are experiencing.
What do you mean about having water in your ears? You can get water in your ear canals, but not in your middle ears. Doctors call it “fluid” but it is really mucous and gunk, not water. If your Eustachian tubes and middle ears are filled with this “gunk”, that gives you a temporary conductive hearing loss until the gunk drains out. Typically this is all caused by a cold or congestion in your middle ears. Did you have a cold or congestion at that time?
When you don’t give me complete details, I can’t understand what you really have.
Cordially,
Neil
I came across this page as I was looking for info on audio pareidolia, which I have. Some interesting comments, many very similar to my experience. The radio voices are very clear, the music is clear (and usually known to me, although sometimes it is classical music I can’t name). It freaked me out a little because I live in the country (no neighbors whose radio I might hear) and I never have music going on at night in my house, and my phone is not in my room. It all made sense when people were talking about white noise because I recently installed a bedroom air filter (for allergies) and it makes a not-unpleasant white noise to which I fall asleep. And I’ll hear that “radio” playing in the early stages of sleep or as I am waking up. I don’t even have any teeth fillings or whatever people may have attributed it to in the past. And my hearing is normal. One thing I wanted to add was that I had a different kind of auditory hallucination when I had a very severe, advanced case of Lyme disease (with neurological involvement) and during that time I heard music and sounds ALL THE TIME. That was maddening, and far worse than thinking I hear a radio. My doc said probably the infection was messing with the auditory part of my brain.
Hi AB:
Your experiences with audio pareidolia fit the norm from other stories I have heard.
Incidentally, so does your experience with Lyme disease. If you have infection centers (lesions) in your brain from the Lyme, it can cause auditory hallucinations such as Musical Ear Syndrome. Your experience is the same as others I have heard from that have also had Lyme lesions in their brains. Once the Lyme is knocked out, your MES sounds fade away–just as yours have also done.
Cordially,
Neil
I have just been experiencing this for the last couple of years. It also got visual. To this day I still hear the music. Music that I try to remember but can’t the next morning. It used to scare me but now it kind of sooths me. Am I crazy?
Hi Tyson:
The visual version of Musical Ear Syndrome is called Charles Bonnet Syndrome. What kind of visuals do you see? Neither Musical Ear Syndrome nor Charles Bonnet Syndrome are symptoms of any mental health issues.
Cordially,
Neil
My audio pareidolia is almost exactly the same as the woman in the article! My “music” style changes from country, to hard rock, Golden Oldies, gospel, or even long hair classical! Sometimes it’s like chanting. However, it is not always “on”. My fans are constantly on, rarely adjusted, & never off unless there’s a power outage. For all this past night & even now I hear only fan noise. Other times I hear the music. Why would this be? I also have the visual pattern finding. Clouds, reflections, all those things. I sometimes simply look down & see a 4 leaf clover amongst the grasses! When reading, I see very pronounced, somewhat diagonally formed lines, where spaces between words in a paragraph stack together. This particular one can be very distracting, even more than the “music”!
Hi Frieda:
You are the first person I’ve come across that has audio pareidolia that “works” sometimes and not other times. So sometimes your brain correctly perceives your fans running as fan noise and other times as music, etc.
I think that has to do with a number of factors. Maybe sometimes your brain hears the fans clearer than other times. That could be due to exactly where you are standing relative to the fans making the sounds louder or softer, or if there are other faint backgrounds sounds also coming into play.
In addition to AUDIO pareidolia, you also have VISUAL pareidolia which is also a normal phenomenon related to your brain trying to make sense out of visual random/semi-random/nebulous patterns.
Incidentally, one of the tricks of typesetting is to minutely adjust the spacing of words in a paragraph so that you don’t get those “rivers” of white flowing through a paragraph which can be distracting. In your case, your brain tries to make sense of these patterns.
Cordially,
Neil
i used to hear music playing in the distance, i was very young (5-6 years old)
Thank Heavens I finally looked this up. Like the others, I thought I was going crazy,,, But I am still not going to tell anyone about it.. lol
I experience this frequently at night, I also use a sound machine. For me it seems to switch between music and people talking (like a conversation that’s too far away to hear the words, but audible enough to know they are talking).
Nice to know my mind isn’t going.
Hi Nathan:
What are you using the sound machine for? Tinnitus? or to help cut out background sounds so you can sleep better, or what?
When you turn the sound machine off, do the voices/music instantly stop and begin again when you turn it back on? If so, then you are experiencing audio pareidolia.
Cordially,
Neil
I have been experiencing this since I was a child. (I am 43). I actually thought it was totally normal until I brought it up to someone! I have never had migraines, tinnitus or hearing loss.
If something like a fan or air conditioner is on, I can clearly make out music or what sounds like an AM/FM radio station, but slightly muffled, as if it is far away. (one commentor said it perfectly: as if you are hearing it through a pillow). I hear what sounds like radio DJs talking, commercials, songs, etc.
Once I realized it was associated with white noise, I just concentrate on the white noise itself, ( ex, the sound of the actual fan) and it goes away. It doesn’t have to be when I am in bed relaxed and trying to fall asleep. It has happened to me in a quiet room while I am sitting up wide awake, as long as a fan or something is on.
I will add that I am also very sensitive to sounds and certain frequencies, so I’d be curious if anyone else here experiencing this MES is also sensitive to this. I have experienced extreme irritability, physical discomfort and actual sickness from noises from electronic equipment (ex: a large copier/printer that emits a barely detectable constant frequency and sound, even when not in use. I had to call the company to find out how to get it to fully shut off so that I wouldn’t hear it, because it made me feel sick and irritated daily). It was as if I could FEEL it, not just hear it.
One time I was standing in line at a convenience store and a timer went off for something they were cooking. A loud, long, ear piercing beep. It was very busy, so no staff could turn it off. I instantly started feeling really sick and then got dizzy. The noise seemed to take over my brain. I had to leave my stuff on a counter, get out of line and then I barely made it to the bathroom door before I almost passed out. By the time I got to the sink, I was seeing all black. I had to sit in there and splash water on myself for several minutes before being okay enough to walk back out. The noise was still happening, so I just what I was buying there and left the store, because I couldn’t stay there. Any ideas of what this is????
I am no doctor or scientist, so I am fully able to accept the explanation of what MES is, in regards to our brain and what it does with this disorder. But sometimes, I just really wonder if the frequency of the white noise actually is connecting to waves or frequencies? Using certain devices, you can connect to actual radio waves and pick stuff up. There are waves all around us and we do know that certain frequencies absolutely can affect people in different ways. I find it all so fascinating. I just think there might be more to it than the explanations given by our current scientific/medical theories.
Hi Catherine:
You don’t have musical ear syndrome (MES). Rather, you are experiencing audio pareidolia where your brain perceives music out of constant background sounds such as fans, air conditioners, furnaces, fridges, etc.–anything with a fan or motor in it.
When you focus on the sound, you are forcing your brain to make more sense out of the sound and realize it is a fan sound and not music or voices. That is a good strategy if it works. You are the first person I’ve heard of that can do this and thus make your brain perceive the correct sound.
Now as to feeling sick with other sounds, I’m not so sure it is the actual sound that makes you sick, but rather, I think you are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) that certain devices emit. Some people can’t stand being around cell phones, wifi systems, cell towers and other devices that emit microwave frequencies. From what you say, you may be one of those people. You can develop this sensitivity as an adult or have it most of your life.
Another cause is being exposed to very low-frequency sounds–below what your ears can hear–around 7 cycles per second. Some people get very sick from those sounds.
You should try to determine whether it is the actual sound that is bothering you, or coincidentally whether it is the EMR that some nearby device is emitting–perhaps in unison with the audible sound.
I agree with you that we don’t know much about all the other things that may explain the weird things that seem to happen to us, but EMR is a known cause, although the powers that be don’t want to admit it as that would mean we’d have to do away with (or completely redesign) and the wireless devices we love to use such as cell phones, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks! What I forgot to mention in my last paragraph is that I think it odd that most people all report the same thing: radio stations! That is weird to me. If it was something else, people would report a multitude of different sounds they are hearing. Why is everyone clearly reporting radio stations? It just seems that is more than a coincidence. I think it is very possible people are actually hearing a radio station. It is such a specific thing. Hearing music or voices is one thing, but for so many people to specifically state radio stations makes me wonder if some type of cross frequency is happening.
Hi Catherine:
People report hearing things LIKE radio stations, but they are not real radio stations. You can easily prove this by asking the person what station they are supposedly hearing. All radio stations give their call signs regularly so it should be easy to identify them. Then you tune a radio to that station and wearing earphones so the other person can’t hear your radio, ask them to repeat exactly what they are hearing in real time. You listen to the radio with one ear and what they are telling you with the other. If what they say is exactly the same as the radio station you are listening to, then you know they are somehow hearing that station. But if anything is different, you know it is not real–and is either audio pareidolia or Musical Ear Syndrome. I think you’ll find the vast majority of such cases prove to be phantom.
Cordially,
Neil