Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) is a condition where a person hears phantom, non-tinnitus sounds—typically music, singing, voices or other sounds.

Although it is quite common, especially among people with hearing loss, few people openly talk about it for fear of being thought crazy.

The good news is that Musical Ear Syndrome is not a psychiatric condition, but rather something not working quite right in the auditory system. In other words, yes you can hear phantom sounds; but no, you are not crazy.

I have been studying MES for several years, and have written several articles and a book on the subject based on the hundreds and hundreds of people that contact me for help.

Unfortunately, medical doctors do not recognize Musical Ear Syndrome as a “real” condition, and many even tell their patients that there is no such thing as MES. This needs to change.

As a result, I have teamed up with Dr. Richard McCollum, a psychiatrist, to study MES in greater detail with a view to having it become a valid medical diagnosis. When this is done, people suffering from MES will hopefully be correctly diagnosed and treated, rather than being thought “crazy” and being drugged with anti-psychotic medications as so often happens now.

To help us in our further research, we would like to hear more stories of your experiences with MES. Therefore, if you “hear” sounds that no one else hears, please fill out our survey form at the bottom of my article “Musical Ear Syndrome“. It will help us to help others with Musical Ear Syndrome.

In the meantime, if you have Musical Ear Syndrome, my book, “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds” explains what Musical Ear Syndrome is, and what you can do to help bring it under control.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A nurse explained:

Recently an elderly friend of my neighbor suddenly began hearing “singing” auditory hallucinations at night. She has had hearing aids for some time and has had a lot of difficulty with them. She has even changed doctors because she was not happy. Could the sudden onset of the hallucinations be related to further hearing problems? I am hoping it is a hearing and not a psychiatric problem. I read too much about polypharmacy and drug interactions to be okay with the medications the elderly are prescribed. She went to her MD today and right away he presumed it was a psychiatric problem and prescribed Risperdal, which, in my opinion, is a nasty drug with a black box warning when prescribed to the elderly. I got a drug monograph for my neighbor (her request) and decided to see what I could find on auditory hallucinations; that’s when I came across your web site. Any alternative to those medications would be so much better.

I agree with you. In cases like this, drugs are seldom the answer because there are some better alternatives. The phantom sounds your neighbor’s friend is hearing could be related to further hearing loss, or to a combination of things including aging, hearing loss, tinnitus, quiet environment, mental attitude, stress, medications, etc.

Unfortunately, far too many elderly people are taking numerous drugs. Did you know that there are more than 250 drugs that can cause hallucinations such as she is experiencing? Since the phantom music came on suddenly, one way to try to track down the cause is to find out whether she recently changed her medications (either began a new drug or changed the dose on an existing one). If there is a close correlation, then that drug is likely the culprit. Stopping that drug could stop any future phantom sound episodes.

It bothers me that her doctor “right away presumed it was a psychiatric problem and prescribed Risperdal” without even determining whether she had a psychiatric condition or something benign such as Musical Ear Syndrome.

Things are not always what they seem at first glance. No doubt what this lady is experiencing is almost certainly related to a “ear” problem and not to a psychiatric problem. Of the hundreds and hundreds of people that have contacted me regarding hearing phantom music (and other phantom sounds), perhaps 3 had what I would consider a psychiatric problem. The rest were as sane as you and me. They just had some problems with their auditory systems that produced phantom sounds.

The best information available on the causes of Musical Ear Syndrome and ways to bring it under control (at least in my opinion, and I’m a wee bit biased because I wrote it) is the article “Musical Ear Syndrome—The Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds Many Hard of Hearing People Secretly Experience“, and my easy-to-read book on the subject “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady explained:

I read your article on Musical Ear Syndrome with interest because although my hearing is normal, I suffer from insomnia because I hear music and singing through the night.

What particularly caught my attention is that a couple of the people you quote have heard exactly the same songs that I have. So my suggestion is the following. Would there be a way to test the homes of a people who claim to have the same symptoms. To me it is as if there were radio waves coming from the vents at different frequencies. If I listen from one angle, I’ll hear a choir singing the back-up. In fact, I remember that this morning I heard the words “addicted to love” and “1 2 3 4″ and “Daddy Come Home” in conjunction with the main song(s) that were playing.

I’ve been jotting them down, but I have heard distinctly Amazing Grace, Battle Hymn of the Republic, some John Phillip Sousa march, Bolero, etc. How could so many people experience the same exact songs? I wondered for a while if it wasn’t some kind of terrorist communication or music for our armed forces.

Like one of your interviewees, I had the manager contact the people above and below me to see if he could find out who was doing it. The music or waves or vibrations that I interpret as music seem to be stronger where the vents are located in our apartment.

Most people that hear these phantom sounds have a hearing loss, but a number of people with normal hearing such as yourself contact me because they also hear these phantom sounds.

The reason so many people “hear” the same phantom songs is that these songs were popular when they were younger—so these songs are in all of your collective memories already. When the conditions are right, you, like them, hear these same songs. It is nothing esoteric.

People desperately want to find a rational reason for the phantom music they are “hearing”, because to them, the only other explanation is that they are crazy. Thus they come up with some “interesting” explanations for these phantom sounds. Your explanation, “to me it is as if there were radio waves coming from the vents at different frequencies”, is actually quite near the truth, surprisingly enough.

You have likely hit the nail on the head in that you feel the sounds are coming from the furnace vents. I agree, however, your theory of why this is so is a bit off. Let me explain.

What happens to a number of people is that their brains’ for some reason modulate any continuous background sound (such as the sound produced by a furnace, air conditioner or fan) to sound like music. Then your brain takes a song out of memory and somehow melds the two together into the phantom music you now “hear”. (Other people, including myself, hear the same kind of thing when flying—our brains modulate the continuous drone of the jet engines into what sounds like various pieces of music, although sometimes it just sounds like an orchestra warming up.)

When the furnace, air conditioner or fan stops, the music stops too. Check this out and notice whether it happens in your case too.

It may seem strange that a number of people, including yourself, have contacted the manager in your building about people causing this loud music at ungodly hours.

However, it is not really as strange as it seems. You see, the sounds seem to have directionality. Thus, you “know” they are coming from above you or below you (even though, in actual fact, they are all in your head).

As you have noticed, the phantom music is loudest near the vents in your apartment because that is where the underlying sound from the furnace/air conditioner/fan is coming from.

Your brain then modulates this sound so you “hear” music or singing. I don’t know why sometimes you hear music and other times singing. I suspect it is related to the frequencies of sound and their variability that your ears are picking up at any given time. Then your brain modulates these sounds and adds its own version of “intelligence” to them—thus the music and singing.

Other people have reported “hearing” similar things to what you are experiencing. For them, when the furnace/air conditioner/fan turns itself off, the phantom music also stops. Fascinating, isn’t it?

(Note: this is just one of the many kinds and causes of the phantom sounds that comprise Musical Ear Syndrome. To learn more about this fascinating subject read “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A concerned daughter wrote:

My mother, who is 83, has hearing loss and lives alone in an apartment in a quiet area. My brother lives next door. She has been hearing phantom music for some years now, and we cannot get her to accept that it is all in her head. We have taken her to several doctors for help, but they don’t seem like they want to be bothered. She has had tests which have come back fine, so she refuses to believe that it is her.

She is accusing the woman that lives next door to my brother of playing music all day. Then she is accusing my brother of continuing playing the same music when he gets home from work and all night long.

We have had people go over to her place to listen, and when they tell her they don’t hear anything, she insists that they are all crazy. We have tried everything we can to convince her that she is the only one hearing the music, and that she has MES [Musical Ear Syndrome]. She refuses to accept it. Do you know of someone we can talk to, or some place we can take tor to that will help us convince her of her problem? We are at the end of our rope and need help!

I understand. Doctor’s don’t seem to be of much help, mostly, I think, because they know nothing about Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). As a result, they don’t have a clue how to treat it—so give you the brush-off.

Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any doctor or facility that is truly knowledgeable about MES and hearing loss, and thus is qualified to help your mom.

The best information available on MES (at least in my opinion, and I’m a wee bit biased because I wrote it) is the article “Musical Ear Syndrome—The Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds Many Hard of Hearing People Secretly Experience“, and my book on the subject “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.

Now let’s look at your mom’s situation. Blaming the neighbors for the phantom music she is hearing is unfortunately, a common tactic for those that experience MES and refuse to admit these sounds are phantom. I hear such complaints quite often. Since this phantom music often appears to have directionality, your mom “KNOWS” it is coming from the room next door (as opposed to the one across the hall, or on the other side of the street, etc.) This gives an added layer of reality to these phantom sounds, which makes it so much more difficult for her to accept that these sounds are all in her head.

Some people also “feel” their phantom music—they can actually “feel” the room or floor vibrating in time to the music. When you “hear” music, can tell exactly from which direction it is coming, and can “feel” the beat, can you blame someone for refusing to accept that the music is phantom? That’s how “real” it is to them.

From time to time, I both “hear” and “feel” certain phantom sounds so I know just how eerily real these sensations truly are. This is quite a hurdle to overcome, and is one of the problems your mom has to deal with.

When she hears the phantom music so loud and clear, it is hard for her to accept that other people can’t hear the same music she is hearing. As you explained, “We have also had people go over to her place to listen and when they tell her they don’t hear anything, she insists that they are all crazy.”

Some people even insist that these “listeners” are hard of hearing themselves, and that is why they can’t hear the music. Your mom says they are crazy instead.

You are doing the right things in getting others to listen and corroborate what you already have found out, that there isn’t any real music playing.

In my experience, a number of people in their 80s and older refuse to accept this. (People in their 60s and 70s are much more willing to accept a hearing person’s word that the music is phantom.) However, when people reach their 80s and 90s often it is like talking to a brick wall. You just can’t seem to get through to them as is the case with your mom even though they are not crazy.

I think the real underlying problem is that to her, if a person hears “voices” or music, they are crazy. That is her only point of reference, and she has held this deeply-rooted belief all her life. Therefore, if she admits that what she hears is all in her head, then she is admitting, at the same time, that she, herself, is crazy. Although she may secretly believe that she IS going crazy, she will never admit it to anyone else. Therefore, the only alternative she has (from her perspective) is to believe that the sounds are indeed real, and therefore, someone or something is causing them.

If she would listen and try to understand, you can explain that there are not one, but two kinds of phantom sounds—the kind she knows about (and fears) where the person has a mental problem, and the other kind, which we call MES (and which she has not heard anything about) that happens to many hard of hearing people who are perfectly sane (but who are, at times, completely fooled by the activity going on in the auditory circuits of their brains). This will be a new concept for her, and some elderly people have a most difficult time grasping such new concepts. Continue to drill it into her that it is her ears (actually the auditory circuits in her brain) that are not working properly, and that she is not crazy (or whatever favorite term she uses).

In addition, many elderly people have very short memory spans for current events, so what you explain to them today, they have forgotten by tomorrow. Thus each day you may need to explain over again about the phantom music.

Another important aspect of this problem is dealing with the supposed perpetrators of the “music”. What happens is the person with MES begins to think very badly towards the neighbor who is so “mean” and “inconsiderate” as to play this loud music all night long just so they can’t sleep.

The person with MES may knock on their neighbor’s door at 3 o’clock in the morning and demand they turn the music off. They may complain to the other neighbors about the “bad” neighbor, refuse to talk to them, or snub them in the dining room.

By the same token, the “bad” neighbor gets tired of all the false accusations and gossip about them and snubs her “crazy” neighbor.

Make no mistake, there are often very real interpersonal problems between those involved. Thus, you need to try to defuse this situation as much as possible. Explain to the “bad” neighbor what is going on, and how MES sounds seem so real and have direction so that they are being blamed for something this is not their fault at all.

When the neighbors and management understand what is going on, they can make allowances for her, and hopefully keep the situation from escalating.

 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

My 87 year old mother has of late begun hearing music, conversations, and other noises which aren’t there. The examples you mentioned in your article describing ‘Musical Ear Syndrome‘ were exactly the situations she’s describing. I was ready to ascribe her hallucinations to her age, solitude and hearing loss until I read the following paragraph.

“Another cause of auditory hallucinations is drugs and medications. Elderly people tend to take more and more medications as they age. Unfortunately, numerous drugs can cause auditory hallucinations.”

Have you any references to or about drugs which may be a cause? My mother is taking a few drugs. If there’s a generic type or class of medication (e.g., for some specific organ, bodily function, condition, etc.) that’s most likely to be a culprit, it would be hugely helpful to know.

There are a good number of drugs that known to cause hallucinations—the vast majority of which are auditory hallucinations. So far, I have found more than 280 drugs, herbs and chemicals with this property.

Unfortunately, the drugs are scattered throughout many of the drug classes, so you can’t just say, for example, “Stay away from these 3 classes of drugs and you’ll be fine.”

Appendix 2 in “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music and Other Spooky Sounds” lists all the hallucinatory drugs and herbs of which I’m aware.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

Strange things are happening now with my eyesight. I used to get a head-size black spot in front of one eye. Recently I got a large white one. On Sunday, when I took a bath, it had changed suddenly to a real face. I opened and closed my eyes again and again, it did not disappear. I just laughed at it. What else could I do? I did not let it frighten me.

You have Charles Bonnet Syndrome. This is when you see things that are not there, especially when you have vision problems like you have. It is analogous to Musical Ear Syndrome—which is where you have hearing loss and hear things (music, voices) that are not there.

It’s nothing to be frightened about, especially once you know what is happening. Some people see the wall of their room disappear and be replaced by a field of sheep, or a children’s playground and the kids playing there.

Actually, a high proportion of elderly people with certain vision problems “see” such things, (around 30%) but seldom talk about them for fear of being thought crazy. (This is exactly the same as those who hear phantom music and don’t want to talk about their phantom sounds for fear of being thought crazy too!)

Some people even have both conditions at the same time.

I’ve written a book on Musical Ear Syndrome so people don’t have to needlessly worry about the phantom sounds they are hearing. In it there is even a chapter on Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

Learn more about Musical Ear Syndrome here,  or get my book “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds” here.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A mother wrote:

My 6 year old daughter just recently told me she is hearing voices talking. She is happy and socially adjusted, thus I don’t believe it is psychotic in nature.

She has been taking Zyrtec for approximately 1 year. She said she had already told me before, but I must have dismissed it. She is not able to tell me how long it has been happening, but she states it did not happen while she was in preschool a year ago. I suspect she may be having ototoxic side effects from the Zyrtec. I stopped the medication yesterday and am giving her Loratadine instead to manage her allergies since it is allergy season. I am concerned that her doctors may think she has a psychosis or some psychological problem. Her doctor suggested a hearing test. Do you believe this is necessary? If it is a side effect of the medication, has it caused permanent damage? Will it go away if we stop the medication?

I agree with you. It does not sound like your daughter has an mental problem. First, I’d check to find out the kind of voices she hears. Are these “personal” voices talking to or about her—or are they impersonal voices such as you would hear on the radio or TV? If the latter, then she likely does not have a mental problem.

Second, find out whether these voices are distinct—can she understand everything they are saying, or are they vague like people (or a TV) talking in another room—you know they are talking but can’t really understand what they are saying? Again, if the latter, they are likely not of a psychotic origin.

Third, find out when she hears them. Is it all the time, or when it is quiet such as when she is in bed, but not when she is up? More often people hear these non-psychotic phantom sounds when they are not actively doing anything and the house is quiet, thus, this occurs when they go to bed.

I agree with you that she may be experiencing an ototoxic side effect of the drug she is taking. Since she began hearing these phantom voices after she began taking Zyrtec (Cetirizine), and since Cetirizine can indeed cause hallucinations, you may be correct in your assumptions.

If stopping the Cetirizine makes these phantom voices go away, that’s stronger evidence yet. However, replacing the Cetirizine with Loratadine (brand name Claritin) may not solve the problem. You see, Loratadine is also as H1 blocker as is Zyrtec, and it can also cause hallucinations. Thus, there may, or may not, be any change in her hearing voices. You can find a complete listing of the drugs that are known to cause these phantom sounds in our book, “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.

Having a hearing test is a wise precaution, especially testing her in the frequencies above 8,000 Hz because Cetirizine can also cause hearing loss. Actually Cetirizine is the most ototoxic of the H1 blockers. Loratadine, or any of the other drugs in this class, would likely be easier on her ears than Cetirizine.

I think that if you stop these drugs, the phantom voices should disappear in a couple of weeks or so, but as with anything connected with drugs, there are no guarantees.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

I just discovered references to you on the Internet while I was trying to Google information about what I now know you have coined “Musical Ear Syndrome”.

The MES reference fits me to a “T”, and I am so relieved to find that others experience this, too. I am 47 years old, and I have been hearing music all day long for about a decade. But what I’ve found is that it waxes and wanes depending on my level of anxiety or depression. Its reappearance coincides with increased stress/anxiety/depression.

I have taken Paroxetine three times since 2000. I most recently began taking it again about 12 weeks ago. Prior to that, I had heard music in my head increasingly for about six months. After beginning the Paroxetine, the MES disappeared. However, over the past two weeks it has returned, and I have noticed along with it a slight elevation in my anxiety/depressive symptoms, enough so that I am increasing my dosage.

What I was wondering is whether you have any information about why this seems to be the case with me, is it dangerous (i.e. a precursor to eventual hearing loss or dementia, etc.), should I be checked out for other causes, as I am not elderly, do not live in a totally quiet environment (though I try to keep it that way as much as possible), and am not hard of hearing. Do you think it’s linked to my depression/anxiety issues? Should I be concerned?

You are perceptive. Stress, anxiety and depression are all factors associated with Musical Ear Syndrome.

When I was researching musical ear syndrome, I found 5 things in common in many people, but since then, I’ve heard from numbers of people more or less in your boat—that do not fit the typical MES mold—but nevertheless have the same phantom music.

I’m still trying to figure out why it affects people like you—but I have noticed that anxiety/stress/depression may be a common thread.

I do not believe that it is a precursor to anything such as hearing loss or going crazy. I think it is just the way your body/brain reacts to stress/anxiety/depression.

Let me explain the roles of anxiety and depression in this. When you are anxious, essentially your body is in the “fight or flight” mode—and all your senses are heightened. This means your hearing is more sensitive too—so you hear things you wouldn’t otherwise—and maybe this includes faint phantom sounds rattling around in your auditory system that you were not otherwise aware were there. (This is also why anxious people tend to have hyperacusis—hear normal sounds as too loud—the internal volume control is turned up too high and stays there.)

Now for the role of depression. When you are depressed you normally turn your focus from the external to the internal. Thus, you become more aware of the internal workings of your body and “notice” the phantom sounds. Because you are depressed, you focus on these sounds more and more wondering what is happening to you—and these sounds become more and more intrusive and louder in the process because your limbic (emotional) system is flagging them as important since you are worrying over them. Thus begins the vicious circle.

What you need to do is get your anxiety and depression under control and hopefully these phantom sounds will begin to fade into the background again.

To learn more about Musical Ear Syndrome, read this article about it, or get the book “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A young lady wrote:

I was very interested in your article on Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). The description seems to accurately describe what I have been experiencing throughout my life, and I must say it is relieving to find out that I am not insane. However, I am still a little concerned because I don’t seem to match the description of someone typically suffering from MES.

First, I am only 21 years old. I began hearing phantom music when I was very young (quite possibly before I reached ten years of age). I vividly remember hearing a distinct pianist serenading me to sleep on many occasions. I would sit up in my bed, listening intently, but as soon as I sat up the sound would disappear. Once I returned to my previous position in bed, the music would continue.

I forgot about this strange phenomenon for quite some time, and as far as I can recall the music stopped as I entered adolescence. I have never had any hearing problems what-so-ever, so I didn’t bother with it. Recently, however, the single pianist seems to have decided to get fancy. Earlier this week I was settling down to bed in my new apartment and I could have sworn that a full orchestra was being carried to my ears over the air conditioning vent. It was very soothing and playing one of my favorite tunes (”Carol of the Bells” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra), so I didn’t bother trying to make the sound go away. I did notice that when I sat up the sound ceased, just like in my childhood. Similarly, as soon as the air conditioner turned off the music went with it.

I know that for the most part this sounds typical of MES, except I am not elderly, not hard of hearing, don’t lack auditory stimulation, am not on medication, or under any particular stress. The only symptom I may possibly share is tinnitus, but of that I am not positive. Occasionally I hear a high pitched single drawn out beep, but I had always assumed that I was hearing an alarm system or something.

I was just wondering as to your opinion on the whole thing. I figured I may as well make sure I am not crazy.

Don’t worry. You are not crazy. Nor are you alone in your experiences. What you are hearing is a rather interesting phenomenon. Furthermore, there is a perfectly rational explanation for your phantom music.

Since you are hearing a special variety of Musical Ear Syndrome phantom music, you do not have to fit into the typical mold of being elderly, hard of hearing, having tinnitus, etc. Younger hearing people experience such things too.

 Here’s what is happening.

Sometimes, when you are relaxing, or laying down trying to go to sleep, your brain decides it’s time to have some fun. Somehow it modulates certain constant external background sounds so they sound musical. Examples of sounds your brain uses includes jet plane noise, road/wind noise when riding in vehicles, fans and other motors and even running water. In your case, as you discovered, your source was the constant background sound of the air conditioner.

You heard the phantom music when you were trying to go to sleep—but when you sat up, it went away because now you were focused on something else—discovering the source of this music, so your brain stopped the phantom music to do some real work for you. Then, when you laid down and relaxed again, your brain went back to its old tricks—and there’s that music again. This continued as long as there was a background sound on which to piggyback the music. Thus, when your air conditioner stopped, so did your phantom orchestra.

You are not alone in hearing such things. Here are some examples of similar experiences other people (some hearing and some hard of hearing) have had. The first example is very similar to your experience.

A lady wrote:

For years I’ve been hearing phantom music of various sorts when I lay in bed waiting to go to sleep–a wide variety, from band and orchestral, to Irish folk music, symphony, opera and so on. My only explanation for it was that my inner ear was making sense of faint but rhythmic sounds in the room, for example, the fan of the air cleaner.

Another lady, elderly in this case, came to the same conclusion about fan motors and phantom music. Her cousin explains:

The music she hears can be initiated by her proximity to various electrical appliances! Not only initiated, but even terminated when the appliance is switched off. It appears that the source of the trigger is the noise produced by the fan in each of the appliances, viz. a fan heater, an exhaust fan above hot plates, and a fan in a microwave oven. The phantom music can be started, then stopped, by switching the fan on, and then off.

This kind of phantom music can also be derived from airplane engine sounds. One lady wrote:

My mom is hard of hearing. Recently on a flight to Arizona with my dad she commented to dad when they arrived at their hotel that she really enjoyed the music on the plane. Dad said there was no music on the plane. On the return trip, mom started hearing the music again and told dad to listen. He said, nope, no music. But mom continued to enjoy it until the plane landed.

I sometimes have the same experience when I am flying. To me the noise of the jets eventually modulates and becomes “vague” orchestral music.This phenomenon is not new at all. One man recalls:

During WW II, I was a passenger in C-47 (DC-3) military aircraft given mostly to hauling freight and the like in the southwest Pacific area. Flights were long and very noisy. I discovered I could hear music in the noise and used it as a form of entertainment. I heard a lot of choral music and popular orchestras. If one were lucky, one might have a lot of mail sacks to bed down on, and the music made a very nice sendoff to dreamland. I just thought it was a normal response to a very much overdriven sensory system trying to deal with the auditory bombardment.

The same thing can happen when you are riding in a vehicle. When I used to drive my old jalopy with the windows open. I’d have the radio turned up so I could hear the beautiful classical music I like. When I’d turn the radio off, often I would still hear the music for miles and miles. The wind and road noise combined in my brain and took on a musical quality. I knew what was happening, but it was very pleasant, just the same.Others have had similar experiences in their cars. For example, a man perceptively explained,

The [phantom] tunes I hear appear to feed upon the noise of the expressway.

This is also Martha’s experience. She explains:

I have been hearing humming music when I was traveling 70 miles each way to work on the Interstate. I associated it with the noise of the tires on the road.

As you can see, a lot of people experience phantom music when the conditions are right—constant background sounds, they are relaxing and their brains are on autopilot. So relax and enjoy your music. At least it is better than listening to the air conditioner!

To learn more about Musical Ear Syndrome and the many strange experiences people have with their phantom sounds, click on the above link.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man recently wrote:

Thank you for your research into Musical Ear Syndrome (MES). Also, thank you for your website postings on the subject, and for your book “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds”. My condition is similar to other people that you describe, but there are a few differences. And more importantly, I want to tell you how I have nearly cured myself of MES.

I have had MES for about 11.5 years. I am 53 and in otherwise good health. I am not hard of hearing. However, all my adult life, I have been acutely sensitive to noise when trying to sleep. I run a fan at night to block out noise when sleeping. I played clarinet & violin in school, but played nothing as an adult. I enjoyed classical and rock music as an adult, until the onset of MES.

I cannot pinpoint the exact onset of MES, but my best estimate is August 1996. Living in an apartment, I thought that neighbors were playing music all night. At first, I only heard the music while trying to sleep. Back then I also heard radio & TV sounds. I could hear a voice (sometimes dialog), tones of voice, and content (beer commercials, radio comedy, nature programs, etc.), but I could never quite make out the words. Eventually, I only heard music.

I approached neighbors, asking them to turn down their music. Naturally, they denied that they were playing music. Eventually, I started hearing music during daylight hours. It was so real I firmly felt that the music was external—that it was coming from the outside, not from within me. I would walk through my neighborhood, trying to find the source of the music. For the first three months or so, I insisted that the music was external to me.

By November 1996, I was starting to break down. The music was so loud and intrusive, that it prevented me from sleeping. I could only get 1 to 2 hours of sleep per night. I could not concentrate, eat, or sleep. My time-horizon contracted to simply getting through the day. The music nearly killed me through sleep deprivation.

There was one odd correlate to the music. It would increase in volume whenever background white noise increased in volume. This puzzled me greatly, because I was accustomed to masking intrusive noise with white noise. But white noise just made the problem worse.

The only way that I could convince myself that the music was in my head, and not external, was to leave the city. A friend and I took a road trip. When the music remained unchanged, I realized that this was a hallucination—something in my brain.

I started going to neurologists and psychiatrists in December 1996. If nothing else, I had to get sleep, or I would die. In all, I saw 3 neurologists and 3 psychiatrists. The neurologists couldn’t find anything wrong via their standard tests (EEG, MRI, blood & urine tests). I received a variety of diagnoses—depression, obsession-compulsion, schizophrenia, malingering, etc. I went through about 25 medications, trying to suppress the music. I also had to take medication simply to get sleep at night.

Only three medications had any effect on the music. The first two, Tegretol and Topamax, worked OK, but they only lasted about three months. I finally tried Klonopin, and that was nearly a miracle. It suppressed the music 48 hours after I started taking it. My dosage was 2 mg/day. Even more miraculous, it suppressed the music for over 7 years. I did not need to increase the dosage over time. I settled on a pseudo-diagnosis of “seizure”, because these three medications were all anti-seizure medications.

The Klonopin did not completely eliminate the music, but it made everything much better. The music was much softer and less intrusive. I could sleep without taking other medication. And the music became a few monotonous bars, rather than a complete orchestral symphony that changed melodies every 10 seconds.

One psychiatrist nearly diagnosed it correctly. He did not have a name for it, but he said that it sounded like an aural analog of the Charles Bonnet syndrome [where you see phantom sights]. To me, this sounded exactly like what I had. My problem did not have a name, but I could understand it as the auditory (music) perception neurons of my brain activating themselves without actual auditory input.

I analyzed and tried many things to see if anything was related to the music. The only things that affected the music were white noise (made it worse) and the three anti-seizure medications that could lessen the music. Alcohol, diet, rest, sleep, stress, any particular emotion, other sounds/noises, magnets to my head(!), various mental exercises—none had any effect on the music.

At its worst, before Klonopin, the music was loud, varied, and elaborate. It was simultaneously beautiful and oppressive. It constantly ran every waking minute, and sometimes in my sleep. (I would hear music in a dream, wake up, and hear the same music upon awaking). The melody would change every 10 - 15 seconds. It was common for the music to cycle through a dozen different melodies (Christmas songs, songs from childhood, TV jingles, and classical music were the most frequent types of melodies) within a 2-minute period.

At times, the music became extreme. At least three times, I heard two different orchestras playing simultaneously. Once I heard a mostly-string orchestra play Mozart, while a mostly-brass band played “Deep in the Heart of Texas”. At least 4 times, I heard beautiful, elaborate music, but melodies I had never heard before (usually strings and low-frequency wind instruments). It seems my brain was actually composing new music, melodies I had never heard before.

You have heard of similar or identical symptoms before. What I wish to share with you now is how I have suppressed MES. I cannot say that I am cured, for I still hear some music every day. But I have not taken any medication to the suppress the music, or to fall asleep, in over a month. I think that what worked for me might work for others.

What I did goes by many names—self-hypnosis, auto-suggestion, affirmation—I will call it self-hypnosis. I read how to do self-hypnosis, hoping that it could help me ignore the music as it could be used by some to ignore chronic pain. Through trial and error, I emphasized some aspects of self-hypnosis, and jettisoned others.

The self-hypnosis instructions I read emphasized the need for a “perfect” trance, the need to be in a trance for 15 - 20 minutes before listening to the actual script. This was too tedious and time-consuming. I just sit/lay back in a dark, quiet room, close my eyes, and after a minute of relaxing and clearing my mind of mental chatter, I listen to my script.

It was difficult to write the script. There was no pre-written script that I could use for such an odd problem. The literature says to use the present tense, use 1st person, only use positive-sounding words, use rhythm, repeat themes and phrases with some variation, and to visualize what you want to achieve.

It is hard to find words for “anti-music”. The word “music” normally has positive connotations. If I want to be rid of music, I cannot use the word “music” in scripts. It is also hard to define a positive script when the goal is to eliminate something. Eventually, I settled on concepts of silence, quiet, peace, and tranquility. These have positive connotations, and are opposed to constantly hearing music.

To give structure to the script, I thought of about 10 situations where the music is particularly bothersome (when trying to fall asleep, when hearing white noise, while working at my computer, etc.). The sentences of the script are along the lines of: “When XXX happens/occurs, I ZZZ”, where ZZZ is one of 1) I actively create silence, 2) the silence naturally happens, and/or 3) I enjoy the silence.

This was not a quick fix. It took me 18 months to get to the point where I did not need to take any Klonopin. The self-hypnosis has no immediate effect. I only started to hear/feel an effect after about 10 weeks. I did not fully believe that self-hypnosis would be helpful, but I was desperate, so I did it every night before I went to bed. After the first 10 weeks, I took a slightly lesser dosage of Klonopin, and found I could get away with it. About every month after that, I found that I could take a slightly lesser dose.

I had Klonopin withdrawal symptoms—mostly insomnia, headaches, and muscle twitches. However, because I withdrew so slowly, it was manageable.

I hope that by reporting my experiences, others will be able to get relief from MES as well.

Thanks so much for letting me use your experiences. I’m sure this will help others who also struggle with the effects of MES.

Note 1: The above person does not fit the typical profile of a person with MES—typically a) elderly, b) hard of hearing, c) has tinnitus, d) lives in quiet surroundings and e) is anxious and/or depressed. Therefore, both the cause of the MES and the “cure” may be somewhat different as described above.

Note 2: Klonopin (Clonazepam) belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. If you take any benzodiazepines for very long, you can form a dependence on them. Once this dependence is formed, getting off a benzodiazepine can be very difficult, and for some, nigh impossible. So I do not recommend taking such drugs for longer than stated in the manufacturer’s guidelines—which is typically 2 or 3 weeks at the most.

To learn more about Musical Ear Syndrome and what you can do about it, read the article “Musical Ear Syndrome—The Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds Many Hard of Hearing People Secretly Experience“, or get the book, “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds“.