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 teamed up with 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.
[Update: Unfortunately, this hopeful beginning has basically come to nought because psychiatrists want to make this into a psychiatric condition and therefore use drugs to treat MES even though MES is not a psychiatric condition at all.
Yes, MES is a sign of something not working quite right in the auditory processing parts of the brain, just like tinnitus is, but as in the case of tinnitus, you do not treat it by prescribing anti-psychotic drugs.]
Therefore, if you have Musical Ear Syndrome, my book, “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds” or my article “Musical Ear Syndrome—The phantom voices, ethereal music & other spooky sounds many hard of hearing people secretly experience” are likely your best bets to understanding what Musical Ear Syndrome is, and what you can do to help bring it under control.
I am not deaf or hearing impaired but have been hearing an old grandfather clock chiming in a very old fashioned style and it has been keeping me awake. I don’t understand where the noise came from or why.
My mom is 73 and just told me that she has been hearing music playing in the distance. At first I thought maybe a neighbor was playing music. That was until she said she can change the song or sometimes the song stops and she could hear the thump thump sound when a record ends. She said the music is really low and the songs are old songs. My Dad passed away last summer and although they divorced when I was 15 (I’m 41 now) he was the love of her life and she never re-married. Could depression be a factor?
She is musically gifted. My mom used to sing really well and used to play the piano by ear.
For the past few months I have been hearing music in my ears..I have problems with my hearing..The music i hear over and over is the same..”glory, Glory Hallelujah, and Yes we’ll gather at the river..Its an everyday thing…other times i hear ringing..I know Im not crazy but it does get very aggravating at times..If ear drs think this doesnt happen,,they need to think again..it really is happening to me.Ive told others about this and they dont ridicule me, they seem to understand..and this is the truth..i have no idea why this is happening..but i have learned to live with it…Robert
Hi Charlene:
Yes, depression can definitely be a factor in the onset of Musical Ear Syndrome such as your mom is experiencing. Of course there could be several other factors as well.
Regards
Neil
Upon occasion, no matter where I am, at times I hear voices that sound like a tv or radio from a distant room. It was very interesting to me to learn that others have this experience too. Any comments you have would be of interest to me and I will share them with my physician at the VA. Thank you
I too have this condition. Up until today, I only hear it at home. Today I heard it at my daughters. I can distinguish different old religious songs.
yes the music is driving me nuts. it’s been 3 months so far and it only happens in my apartment, I put the key in the lock, open the door and the music starts it gets louder and softer from one room to another. I plan to have my hearing checked,”whoever has the same thing that I have (auditory hallucinations) dont bother going to a shrink, see an audiologist first
Hi Sally:
I suspect your music is based in a real sound that occurs in your apartment–probably a background sound that you aren’t normally aware of. For example, it could be a fan or motor running. Your brain hears this sound and modulates it from the simple drone into the phantom music you are now hearing.
Common causes of this kind of Musical Ear Syndrome include furnace fans, air conditioners, fridges, stand-alone fans and so on.
Since it varies in volume from room to room, move around your apartment to find the loudest place and see what fans/motors are running near there. Then turn it off or unplug it/flip the breaker and see if your music stops instantly. If it does, you have found the culprit.
Cordially,
Neil
For the past several months I’ve been hearing music playing that’s not there. Complete choir and orchestra. It started out with Silent Night, Then Oh Come all ye Faithful, America, Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace, Jingle Bells and a few others from time to time but mostly those. I have also hear the humming of a diesel engine as well as a high pitched squealing noise along with the sound of crickets singing. I do have a profound hearing loss but do not have the insurance or funds to buy hearing aids so I don’t know if that would help stop these noises anyway. I do know I am not crazy but I sure wish this would go away. It keeps me awake every night and I hear it 24/7. I go to sleep hearing it and wake up hearing it. If I try to talk over the music it gets louder. IF I turn the tv or radio up to try to drown it out it gets louder. I am NOT crazy now but if this keeps up I may be soon. IS there anyone out there that can help me STOP hearing this music? As of present I’m waiting on an appointment with an ENT.
Hi Jeannie:
You’ve got a twist to your phantom sounds in that when you try to drown it out it gets louder. Is the same true of the tinnitus sounds you hear–the diesel truck engine, the crickets and the squealing noise?
Tinnitus that gets louder in response to louder sounds is called reactive tinnitus–since it reacts to sounds. Thus you can’t drown it out like you can with non-reactive tinnitus.
I don’t remember hearing from people with MES that they have what we might call “reactive MES”–but I think it would be the same principle as tinnitus and MES are close cousins in many ways.
Since you can’t drown it out, you might want to try to make it easier to bear buy listening to some real music (or other sounds), but increasing the volume just to the point below which your MES begins to get louder. You don’t want to turn it any higher or your MES will react to the sound. This is what I have suggested to people who have reactive tinnitus. It might work for you too.
Cordially,
Neil
I sleep with a fan on for white noise to sleep at night. A few months ago, I started hearing what sounds like a woman humming a melody. If I turn off the fan it stops. I work in a noise place and where ear plugs, I noticed that I hear what sounds like an electric guitar playing.
I am 21 now and my boyfriends mom has been hearing music it is old time music like the b 52s and other bands/groups like that, His mom used to sing as she was younger but as she grew older she started to lose her voice and as now can not sing, she is 80 now and she is hearing the songs over and over again.
I have had MES since my husband passed away in Nov. 2011 but it started with sounds of bees buzzing and then went to beautiful music, hymns, Patriotic songs, and songs I taught as an Elementary teacher.
Many are repetitive chords. They come and go. I have a widowed friend, 87 and would be lost without the music now, she sang with a band and taught music.
I started hearing a song (never heard before) in May 2014 after taking Avelox, Nexium and Tetracycline to treat a H.Pylori infection that I did not have. I can only make out 4 words – yee yah, yah hee. I don’t know what they mean. Sometimes, it is a man singing, sometimes a woman, sometimes a duet. There were times when I hear a group of men chanting.
I saw several specialists – psychiatrists, neurologist, and ENT specialists, but to date, the MH continues. I am really SCARED. I have been under tremendous stress since May 2012, but did not experience MH until May 2014. I had a lumbar puncture done by a resident, then was hospitalized by the neurologist, was given 2 bags of cortisol and one week later was transferred to a mental health ward. At the mental ward, I was prescribed antipsychotics, but so far none has worked. One doctor prescribed Seroquel to me when she shouldn’t as I also have hypothyroiditis and cataracts. The cataracts have since been corrected and my hypothyroidits controlled with Synthroid 25 ug. The VIHA laboratory also said I was infected with the H.Pylori bacteria when in fact a urea breath test showed I did not. I am so disappointed with the VIHA doctors and laboratory.
Any help you can provide to alleviate the MH would be most appreciated..
Hi Karen:
Both Avelox and Nexium can cause these musical hallucinations. The Avelox is probably more this way than the Nexium. I have no information indicating Tetracycline can cause this.
And the stress you are/were under is another likely factor.
Also the various anti-psychotics you are taking are probably factors as well, Seroquel included.
So, the first thing woould be to get off these drugs so your MH have a chance to fade away. And get your stress under control.
At the same time, you need to learn how to live with these strange musical sounds. They are not harmful, so don’t worry or be scared when you hear them. Just ignore them by listening to some real sounds. That alone, will help reduce your feelings of fear and stress towards them. Once you relegate them to the same category as background environmental sounds that you typically ignore, you’ll find they won’t bother you much even though they are there.
Cordially,
Neil
I just read your reply and wanted to thank you. I have had tinnitus for 20 years and rigging the last few months have MES. I find it hard to cope with but since I read your comment I felt hopeful. Thank you.
Hi Neil
Interesting research you are doing. I recently discovered MES, though I’ve had it for many years. I have the kind where it comes from faint noice and can be turned off. No noice, no music. I am a big fan of music, play the piano, and have always found this more pleasant than disturbing. I can distinguish particular instuments in it. Eg. one time i heard drums, cymbals, two guitars, one of them playing rifs, the other backing. Sometimes it’s a single woman singing with vibrato to music. Sometimes it has a chorus with a lead singer. If there’s singing, I can hear most words. Sometimes classical compositions. One time I got punk rock out of a ventilation system. Other machines have been fridge, freezer, washing machine, cars driving with a somewhat constant noice from a far distance.
I never hear the same music twice. Even if the noice comes from the same machine in my own apartment. However, the music is always a loop. That’s how I first learned that it came from me rather than my neighbors (as I initially thought). Nowdays I listen for the loop, listen for the source and try to enhance all the details within the music. It’s very interesting, I don’t seem to ever have control over what music comes and I can’t alter it by choice. I don’t have tinnitus or damaged hearing. Feel free to ask questions if you’re interested in other details.
Hi Ebba:
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m always interested in hearing people’s stories. If you have more to share about MES or audio pareidolia, I’m all ears.
Cordially,
Neil
My mom has been hearing actual choruses of religious songs & patriotic songs all night & even during the day. She is 92, and has hearing aids in both ears. However, the singing is so loud, she is unable to sleep at night; we’ve purchased a “wind/white noise” machine suggested by the audiologist where she got her hearing aids last year, but it doesn’t help. She turns her radio up loud, but that doesn’t help. It’s so bad at night, she is unable to sleep. We have your book, PVEM&OSS. She does take Metroprolol 100mgs for her heart/blood pressure; she also takes Zetia for cholestrol, sometimes she takes Amitriptyline 12mgs, Levothyoxine for thyroid, Cipro 175mg to prevent UTIs; Anastozolole 1mg since 2014 when she had a tumor removed from her breast; Coumadin for A-Fib. We really, really need to find a way for her to be able to sleep, because these choruses are so loud, so distinct & repetitive, it never stops. Does excessive ear wax build-up have a connection to this? Any help would be greatly appreciated; Thank you.
Hi Linda:
I don’t know whether all the drugs your mom is on are causing her loud MES or not. They can certainly contribute to it though.
It seems wrong to take a bad drug like Cipro when it is just a preventatve. t could be making her MES really loud, but who knows if it is doing this in her case. My mother-in-law s also 92. She was getting UTIs all the time. However, she found something that works for her and has never had a UTI since. Maybe it would work for you mom also. It’s called Cystex Cranberry Urinary Health Complex.
I’ve never heard of ear wax causing MES, but if her ear canals are full of wax a doctor can easily clean out her ear canals periodically.
I wish I had the definitive answers for you, but I don’t. I only have some guidelines which you have in my book.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
My mom is now saying that the music is “rushing through her”; when that happens & I take her blood pressure, it is up quite a bit. Regarding the half Cipro tablet, she can’t use anything with cranberry, as when she went on Coumadin, they told her to avoid cranberries. Are there any types of specialists that work with MES ? Thank you for your responses.
Hi Linda:
I’m not aware of any specialists specifically working with MES. That is why I have tried to fill the gap and help such people.
Cordially,
Neil
My dad is almost 90 yrs old and many years ago had a buzzing in his ears. He was also dx with s/s of Minneres disease. Over the years he has had to stay on Antivert to help with the s/s of keeping his vertigo under somewhat control. During the past year he has developed the musical ear and now it a man talking all the time. He cannot sleep and today he said there was a man and a woman talking downstairs. He says it is so real. What do you suggest.
Hi Michele:
If your dad has Meniere’s and suffers from vertigo, why not cure that. Everyone that has read my article “Atlas Adjustments Alleviate Meniere’s Disease” and acted on the information contained there have largely freed themselves from the Meniere’s symptoms. I’ll bet it will work for you dad too.
I’m not surprised your dad experiences Musical Ear Syndrome. He fits the profile–elderly, hard of hearing, tinnitus, etc. Hearing people talking–whether vague or clear–is common.
Assuming he is “all there” mentally so he can understand what is going on, have him read my article or book on MES, then learn to ignore the MES sounds Once he realizes that the voices are phantom and nothing to worry about, he can learn to tune them out to some degree and get his beauty sleep.
I know you recently purchased the Phantom Voices book. You (and he) would also do well to read my article on “Musical Ear Syndrome” as it contains some newer information that may help him better cope with his MES.
Cordially,
Neil
THANK YOU!! I was beginning to think I was going crazy. I just wanted to find out where the music was coming from. I thought the neighbors had a radio on a strange station of old music. Now I think I can live with it. 🙏🙏
I would like to thank you for bringing this story to light. I definitely have this and, because of this, when I was studying for school, it would probably take me 10 minutes per page for any textbook that I would read as music would play in my head and block the processing of information in my head.
You mentioned teaming up with a psychiatrist in order to explore and research MES further, as well as attempt to spread the word. I was wondering if you had ever considered teaming up with a psychologist to try to find out what’s wrong, specifically a cognitive psychologist who likes to focus on attention and perception and thoughts. I believe that MES would be a goldmine of research opportunity for them and could open many doors.
Hi Tyler:
I’ve never come across a psychologist that indicated interest in investigating MES. But then, I’ve not really looked for one. If you know of one that would want to work on this, please put them in touch with me.
Cordially,
Neil
My MES started shortly after my Xanax Rx ran out. Last night I found 3 and last night is my first full nights sleep in weeks. My music sounds sort of like Merry Go Round music, with an acordian. It seems to be building to a great finish, but then starts over. I am almost 69 and wear hearing aids for the passed 15 years. My mother wears hearing aids and so did her mother. My mother is 89 and when I asked her if she heard music, she said she heard a man yelling!! Dear Lord, I rather hear the music, if you can really call what I hear as music. It is not anything I have ever heard before – like a said just the repeating of merry-go-round music. I too hear the humming of a machine of some sort, but when I turn off what I think is the sorce , it just keeps on and then later, It just goes away – I don’t notice WHEN it stops, just notice later, that it is gone for the moment.
Hi Jessica:
Hallucinations don’t necessarily mean you have a mental health issue. If that is your only frame of reference to what you are hearing, no wonder you are confused. Hallucinations are hearing things that are not there–a good example that affects millions of people is tinnitus. Musical Ear Syndrome is another good example. These are non-psychiatric auditory hallucinations. Being over tired can also cause you to “hear” phantom sounds–this doesn’t mean you are crazy, you are just over-tired.
And another cause is audio pareidolia–which is not an hallucination, but an illusion. You are hearing real sounds but your brain interprets them as something else. For example, numbers of people hear music coming from fans and motors running. This is simply audio pareidolia in action.
So until you have tested and ruled out all the above you don’t have to go looking for other-worldly dimensions to try to explain these phantom sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Jessica:
You don’t have to have hearing loss in order to “hear” phantom sounds. And the fact that they went away when you sat up to focus on them shows you were have a Musical Ear Syndrome experience.
Cordially,
Neil
I started hearing music in Feb 2018 when in bed and eventually my wife even woke me up to ask me to turn radio off!
I had been told from a friend that noise was from a local source so I believed it was real! It got worse and worst was John Browns Body (= Battle Hymn of Republic) which was amazingly highlighted when I recognised it was me…plus Christmas Carols.
Changed a bit in 12 months..got Achey Breakey Heart tonight for first time as typed this.
Tried to source music for 2 weeks when it started and had some queer looks asking people aboit the music they could not hear!
Seeing a doctor was useless as I has to show article off internet to them!
I have excellent hearing and am 68 years old male in UK.
Somwtimes up till 4 00 in morning with music.
I can write a book about it…!
Hi Tony:
Thanks for your report of your MES experiences. Once you know what it is, you can learn to tolerate it, and depending on the music, even like it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
My son has Sensory Processing Disorder (an very high functioning ASP).
He’s mentioned that he’s heard a “single tone that then fades” (like if you pressed one key on a piano) that has woken him.
Hi Mark:
A single tone that starts out loud and fades away in a few seconds is called “Transient Tonal Tinnitus”. This happens to everyone on occasion. It is part of the normal “calibration system” of the auditory system. It is nothing to be concerned about.
Cordially,
Neil
I have that (musical ear syndrome) have had it now since 2015. Its driving me nuts, I cant concentrate on much as the orchestra music goes on and on all day long everyday…if anyone needs support someone to talk to as I need someone to talk with about this contact me at my email address at >>> irelandsblessed at yahoo com
Hi Tammy:
You want support in how to effectively deal with your MES. What you don’t want is a group “pity party” where you commiserate about your MES. This isn’t productive. Work on mutually building each other up by sharing ways you successfully deal with you MES, even if it works for just a short time.
Cordially,
Neil
My troubles started around 12 years ago when a virus affected my left ear and I experienced high frequency loss. Hearing dropped to around 35db. Next problem was my right ear a couple of years later when I lost the low frequencies in my right ear due to Menieres Disease. A most unpleasant few months followed. Hearing aids are of course worn in both ears. Lately I experienced a loud crashing noise and a sudden hearing loss in my left ear down to 100db. It has started to come back but I do expect it to be a lot worse than before.
That is when the MES kicked in. The music is generally orchestral. The tempo of the music is absolutely frenetic. Would hate to see a conductor trying to work this lot !! I wonder if I can get some tablets to change the music to something more genteel. Don Williams would do nicely thank you 🙂
My mes started 2 months after my dad died I woke up one morning with music walked around the house to see if the tv or radio was on spent a month going to Doctors had an MRI done an a CT scan I thought I was going crazy my Doctor wrote it off changed Doctors saw A psychiatrist and a neurologist which diagnose musical ear syndrome being created with anxiety meds so glad to finally know what I had and know I’m not nuts
Hi Lynda:
It sounds like MES to be sure. But it could have been caused, not by anxiety meds, but by the anxiety itself. Who knows which really was the cause. But isn’t it nice to know you are not nuts.
Cordially,
Neil
Its a pain in the butt to not have a cure for this asked my doctor if he could go in my brain and turn off the switch he said nope can’t be done hypnosis is expensive and has given me some control with self Hypnosis