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“.
___________
Addendum: Since I wrote this article I have finally found the underlying reason for this phenomenon. It is called Audio Pareidolia. You would do well to read my article on this subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ . Audio pareidolia is not really part of MES, but is a separate phenomenon, although I originally included it as part of MES. It is the reason that most people with normal hearing, and children “hear” these apparently phantom sounds.
I have been hearing music plus baseball games, boxing, news for the past 4+ years. I am listening now to a March and walked past the vents….all the vents had the same music. It is not everyday or every week. No one else has heard this. It is disconcerting to say the least. I too have said this is caused by waves from satellites. This after checking with my neighbors as I am in a home. I also wondered if this was from implants because this is about when it started.
Your theory makes sense for the music but what about the news and the sports??? Especially the boxing match which had happened earlier in the evening…..
Hi Janice:
I’d expect you’d hear the same “music” as you walk past different vents in your house since the furnace produces the same sounds that your brain is interpreting as phantom music, etc.
Satellites transmit radio waves and our bodies can’t hear radio waves–just sound waves. That is why I don’t believe you are hearing actual radio transmissions. Furthermore, if you were hearing radio transmissions, you’d hear them all the time–not as you say–not everyday or even every week–it would be constant.
When you hear the news or sports–like the boxing match you “heard”. Did you turn on a radio or TV and find the same boxing match AT THE EXACT SAME TIME with the EXACT SAME words you were hearing. If so, I’d believe your implants or something was picking up the radio waves and converting them to sound waves. But if you are not hearing the exact same words at the exact same time they are being broadcast, then in is just your brain making up some phantom programs for you. So it is very easy to check whether it is real or phantom–find the loud local station that has the same music/words you are hearing.
So far, I only know of one person who could do that–and that was a vet who had a piece of shrapnel sticking out of his skull. ALL other reports, when looked at closely, were phantom, not real.
Regards
Neil
Can u tell me about this vet & his story, bc I’m experiencing the same exact thing with the (radio stations) along w/ also hearing a 2way male/female conversations. And I can hear multiple stations in different parts/places in my 1,200 sqft hse, and I have also tried that Radio Station Test & I DID pick up the exact same song.. word for work as to EXACTLY what I was hearing.
If you could somehow help me & maybe some advice or tips & tricks… it would be really really useful.
Also I.don’t hear these sounds/music/conversations when I’m other places then my house & my kids have heard the music too(very rarely tho)
Thank you so so much.
Hi Amy:
I’ve told you the gist of the vet’s story–that’s about all I know about his experiences.
However, I have a number of questions for you to try and better understand what you are hearing.
When you say you can hear multiple radio stations in various places in your house, tell me more. How many specific radio stations? Are they FM or AM stations? Have you tested each one several different times to be sure that you are hearing exactly what each of these stations are playing at exactly the same time? Have you tested your kids to be sure they are doing the same?
Where are the antennas of the radio stations you are hearing–near by, or miles away? Do you hear the same radio stations in only certain places in your house, or everywhere? Does this vary by station?
When do you hear these radio stations–any time you listen for them? or only at certain times/places?
You NEVER hear any phantom sounds anywhere else except in your home?
Feel free to add anything else that will fill in this curious situation for me.
Cordially,
Neil
Im 26 2 children and i am also right now for the last 6 months.
Only at night time and radio stations like very faint .
Rock music station right now “we can do it” i could make oout.
Im scared and need help i feel like im crazy.
How do we stoo them
Hi Mercedez:
First thing, calm down. This is nothing to be scared of. Second, don’t listen for it. The more you listen for it, the louder it can become.
Third, notice whether there are any other faint background sounds on when you can hear this faint radio station. For example, furnace, fan, air conditioner or anything that has a motor in it. If you have one of these devices on when you hear your faint radio station, turn it off, or wait until it cycles off and notice if you radio station disappears too. If so then you are experiencing audio pareidolia–which is a perfectly natural, benign experience. Your brain is just trying to make sense out of faint background sounds–and sometimes comes up with the entirely wrong solution.
I suspect that is what you situation is. To learn more about audio pareidolia, read my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Neil, I can’t stop reading this. It’s been a secret and the scariest thing for me, so scared I was crazy! Wow ok I have so much piece of mind now.
One time about 6 years ago I would hear the war of the worlds every single day. I was home alone where it was quiet but I did have an a/c on.
While what you say makes sense as I have had loss of hearing in one ear all my life. 6 years ago it would be in the afternoon. Since then I have moved to a new town and here them at night. Lately I have seen spirits, have laid in bed at night and see stars above me as if. I’m outside. I also see other things. Am I desounsal or becoming schizophrenic? When I saw the spirit, it was a person. My cat saw it too. It scared both of us. I told the spirit if she was going to be in this house too that she needed to be where I wasn’t and not to show herself to me again. It’s only been one month and I have only lived here 1 year.
Hi Carren:
There are four distinct conditions you may be experiencing. If you only heard the war of the worlds playing when you had the A/C on AND it went away instantly when it cycled off, then you were experiencing audio pareidolia–a perfectly natural condition where you brain is having trouble pattern-matching the real sounds around you and comes up with something “off the wall”.
If you hear phantom sounds such as music, speech and other sounds of an impersonal nature, you probably have Musical Ear Syndrome. If the sounds are personal in nature such as hearing someone talking about you, or to you, you probably have schizophrenia.
However, when it comes to seeing spirits and talking to them, this sounds like demon oppression. The fact that it scared your cat too tells me this is likely what is happening to you now. Some doctors might call it schizophrenia, but I think that is a wrong label.
It’s possible that you have experienced all 4 of these conditions, but it seems that demon oppression is your real current problem. The only real solution for this is to turn to God and reject the devil and his demons, rather that embracing them. If you need help in this area, email me privately and I’ll help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Very interesting. I heard REM playing when I run my ac, losing my religion. Seemed like the lyrics were spot on. I know this post is extremely old but if anyone would like to reply you may use T8erSkin@gmail.com
I have the same problem when a/c is on its just a little cheap window unit and twice as loud when I have the Dyson bladeless fan on. I get anything from heavy metal to classical to country jazz you name it. A lot of the stuff I’ve never heard in my life. It’s driving me crazy. I go into the bathroom off my bedroom and close the doors and have been able to record it on my iPad.
Wow, ive tried recording these sounds too but it didnt pick it up. Just tried one time. This only happens at home. Dont hear it outside or other peoples houses. I too am extremely tired of this. Its been going on for about 4 months and hours on end each day. But since it started there have been 2 or 3 days a week that these noices cease. Strange to say the least and this i have never experienced before.
Hi Brian:
If your recorder can’t “hear” these sounds, then you know they are phantom. In that case, you know you don’t have audio pareidolia, but probably have Musical Ear Syndrome (MES), which unlike audio pareidolia, are truly phantom sounds.
One reason you only hear them at home and not when out and about is because when you are out you are focusing on real sounds and interacting with people so you brain has real sounds to process. When you are at home, it is often quieter and you may not be interacting with people so your brain can be “starved” for sound–and thus produces its own music.
When you have days when you don’t hear your MES in retrospect, think back to how much real sounds were present and whether you are interacting with people or pets, etc. more than those days when you hear your MES.
Do you have a hearing loss?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I have recently experienced music, and internet chatter, tv stations, radio stations, coming through my aircon, and electrical fittings and old internet cables. This started happening when new internet cables were being laid in my area. Apparently old cables in your home can pick up music, etc from new microfibres cabling being connected. I rang the cable laying company and told them that I had this problem with my house sounding like a giant sound system. It stopped immediately and have not heard since. Check where all of your old internet cables are in your house etc. especially if they are ether cables as they need electricity to do this. This may not be everyone’s solution, but worth trying to make sure all old cables are completely disconnected from any other internet source.
Hi Jan:
When you hear musice, radio stations, etc., etc. coming up through your air conditioner/heating registers when the units are running, you are experiencing audio pareidolia. You are not hearing these sounds coming from old internet cables as much as you want to believe you are.
The only way sounds could come from old internet cables is IF they were connected to a computer or TV and the sound was coming from the computer or TV’s speakers. Since that apparently wasn’t the case, and you heard the sounds throughout the house, the only rational explanation is audio pareidolia–the illusion of these sounds originating in the fans of the air conditioner.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear the same stuff as you dude no joke I’ve been tripping on this for about three and a half years now
I can’t believe I found a post or page relating to this! I just starting hearing this last night. It kept me up all night! Sounds like a glam rock band going in and out of rehearsing and playing actual songs..I thought I was crazy…it’s good to know that I’m not the only one going through this…what does it mean!?! So so strange. Wish I knew the explanation ! Has anyone figured out how to make it stop?
It started for me in a hotel where the fans come on when u turn on the lights so it was constant Unless I wanted to be in the pitch dark or leave the door open. I thought it was other peoples music. But stopped when the lights and fan went
off
Hi Jaimie:
That is a classic example of Audio Pareidolia. If it happens again, you might ask the hotel if you could try another room and see if the fan there produces the same result or not. There’s a good chance it won’t, so just simply changing the room could be the solution for you. It’s certainly worth a try.
Cordially,
Neil
Ha yer not the only one!!!! Weird, where’s the FB share button t
I feel like I’m going crazy . Last night I listened to music thru air-conditioned . Very good music stones .Skynyrd so many songs. Couldn’t fall asleep I told my daughter she said I was gonna NG crazy it happening now as I write. She can’t hear it . It’s driving me cra,u
Hi Bernadette:
You are not going crazy. You are just experiencing audio pareidolia. Read my article on the subject. The link is in this article. Just turn the A/C off if you want respite from these sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
I have suffered (and that IS the only word for my auditory hallucinations. The noise goes on 24/7 and includes music, lots of conversation, talking about Marines, music writers and performers, and a loving couple coming up to their 60th anniversary! It is difficult to cope with, because I NEVER have a time of day or night that is absolutely quiet. I am profoundly deaf, ear two Resound aids and have been told by audiologist that because I have been deaf for so very long my brain is ‘making things’ up for me to hear! About some absolute silence…I don’t enjoy social groups because their conversations are masked by the detail of the noise in my head….I am on quite a few meds, almost all of them listed in your book about ototoxic drugs. Will I ever find relief from this awful stuff….I swear if I could run a tape of what I hear it would make a best seller, with cast of lots of people and crazy plots…music, celebrations, sex, old folks and younger, marine generals….and on and on…….HELP!
Hi Ethel:
I’d suggest you read my main article on MES. Near the end of it I give a number of things to work through in dealing with your MES. You can read this article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/
Have you noticed any connection between any of the drugs you are taking and your MES? In the back of my book on MES http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/phantom-voices-ethereal-music-and-other-spooky-sounds/ there is an appendix listing the hundreds of drugs that are known to cause “hallucinations”. Some of your drugs may be the culprit. Or maybe it is more your profound hearing loss or some other factors. You need to read the above article and see if anything “rings a bell” with you.
Cordially,
Neil
“if anything ‘rings a bell’ with you.”
absolutely magnificent.
I’m a psych nurse so find the fact that after being given Gentamicin while in a coma w septic pneumonia, I had 40% hearing loss and developed phantom music in my L ear. It has been 6 years. It starts at 1800h and goes all night. It occurs occas in daytime. It is a male choir but I dont know the music. I’m up to Serax 30 mg for sleep but it doesnt always work. Any suggestions?
Hi Janice:
I’m not surprised that the Gentamicin you were given caused you hearing loss and indirectly apparently has given you musical ear syndrome. I’m curious why it starts at 1800 hrs each day. What do you do then that would cause it to start? Is that when you get home? Or is that when you sit down and relax and it’s quiet?
If the phantom sounds are bothering you when you try to go to sleep, you could try having some real sounds on your clock radio, MP3 player or whatever to distract your brain so you don’t focus on the phantom sounds as you fall asleep. Some people find listening to environmental sounds on CDs works for them. Others find thatjust having a fan running in the room works for them. So try supplementing your environment with some real sounds and see how that works.
Cordially,
Neil
I hear music, news and comenatry I also heard the comentator give the am channel numbers. So I know I hear a radio station as a rarely listen to a radio and never an am station. I looked up the am number listing on my pc it is within 50 miles of my home
Hi Barb:
Just because you hear the station’s identification call sign doesn’t mean that what you’re hearing is real. I know people who hear their local radio stations call sign included in what appears to be part of a radio broadcast, but it’s all part of their MES. One of the clues is whether what you hear from the supposed radio station is repeated. If it’s repeated a number of times you know this is not a real radio station because real radio stations don’t to say the same thing over and over.
Furthermore, your brain is not going to pick up a radio station that’s about 50 miles away. That’s another clue that what you are hearing is not real, but is MES.
cordially,
Neil
Glad I found this. Right now we’re in the middle of a heat wave and we’ve got two velocity fans and a floor unit AC going. I’ve been hearing music, commentary, and crowds cheering all evening.
The first time I heard it I thought my mother had the TV on downstairs, but when I went down to ask her to turn it down, nobody was in the living room at all.
I thought it might be something like my brain creating sounds in my head. Is this the same thing as a hallucination?
Hi E:
If you only hear this “phantom” sounds when you have the fans, etc. on, then this is not Musical Ear Syndrome. What you are experiencing is Audio Pareidolia where your brain tries to pattern match the fan sounds you are hearing to known patterns. It forces the nearest pattern to these sounds–even if there are nowhere’s near close–and you hear the music, commentary, crowds cheering, etc. as a result.
To learn more about this interesting, but benign, condition see my article on Audio Pareidolia at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for this explanation. I have this problem and I hear a male choir singing church and opera songs but just when the furnace is running, when it stops so does the choir. It is truly lovely singing but I never told anyone as I thought I was losing my mind! Good to know the reason and can now just enjoy the choir!
Hi Kate:
What you are experiencing is called audio pareidolia. You can read more about this fascinating subject in my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/ . And for sure, enjoy the music as it is just a normal part of being human as you will see from the above article.
Cordially,
Neil
My husband and I both had this phenomena in one house we lived in, a single family, detached house. We would both hear the same exact thing and could discern if it was rock, country, commentary, etc. .. the sound would change from commentary to music, just like a radio. I never recognized any of the songs so I can’t imagine they were being made up in my head, and how was my husband hearing the exact same thing?
Hi Kim:
What was it about that house that you both could hear these “sounds”? I take it, it doesn’t happen in any other places. There must have been some low-level background sound that your brains turned into music and voices–in other words you were both experiencing audio pareidolia as I see it.
Cordially,
Neil
You’re not crazy, I hear the same thing. They want to slap a label on it and call it something because they don’t experience it themselves. It is real. It is really there. I have heard it ever since I was young. The volumes will go up and down, some nights it will be louder than others, it will be rock, country, classical, sometimes concert music with applause and sometimes you can hear the radio announcers
Years ago I had sudden hearing loss in L ear. It left me with tinnitus in that ear that drives me crazy. My tinnitus is never voices or music, just a continual “hissing” sound. The hissing sometimes sounds like it changes frequencies but still a hiss. I find it interesting that it’s a “brain” thing and not an “ear” issue. Since my hearing loss i hear either music or talking if I wake in the night or when I wake in the mornings….. but ONLY when the AC/furnace is running. It’s located in hallway right by my bedroom door. It’s very seldom I recognize the song, I just hear voices singing or talking. Sometimes it sounds like sports commentators covering a game. I have gotten out of bed, thinking my roommate left the tv on but it’s not! Like many, at first I thought I was “crazy” and alarmed that I was hearing these voices. One morning (or night) I finally realized it was related to the AC/furnace. I’m going to read the link you posted on audio pareidolia because that sounds like my experience.
Hi Brad:
My tinnitus is a hissy-whine sound. Just ignore it. I’ve been doing that for the past 70 years with mine. I do not get emotionally involved with my tinnitus (unlike your–it drives me crazy), so most of the time it fades into the background and hours go by without my being conscious of it. That is what you need to do too.
And from what you say about the A/C running and hearing music/voices, you definitely have audio pareidolia. It’s nothing to worry about at all–now that you know what it is and what is causing it.
Cordially,
Neil
Interesting article. I came across this searching on google, because started noticing it a few months back. I think for me its the AC. Im literally in the car right with the AC on, and its happening. If turn the AC off, its completely silent.
Also, in my case I dont hear any songs I know. Just different genres of music. Mainly, rock or really deep metal… and it sounds kinda good actually. Its funny though, because i actually produce hiphop tracks as a side thing in my spare time. It is definitely a strange phenomenon though. Atleast I now know that Im not the only one, its not my sanity thats getting away from me. haha
Hi B-chan:
You’ve got a good case of audio pareidolia. Never heard anyone saying they got it via their car’s air conditioner before, but numbers of people have reported getting it from the A/C in their homes.
Cordially,
Neil
I have heard this about 10 to 15 in my life, just in the past few years, only when the ac is on. not all the time. could this be a spirit from the under world. It real.
Hi Frank:
If it were spirits of any kind, you would not only hear them when your a/c is on. What you are experiencing is audio pareidolia and it goes away when your a/c cycles off. This is a natural phenomenon an your brain tries to match the pattern of the A/C sound with previously-stored patterns. Sometimes the match is out in left field and you hear your a/c “talking” or playing music.
Cordially,
Neil
I would have to say since my new Heat Pump was installed in 2020, I to have been hearing noises when the fan runs such as military style music, sports (baseball, horse racing, boxing, etc.), men and women having discussions. I have been able to match the music exactly with local AM radio on one occasion. Keeps me up at night. Think the atmospheric conditions play an affect on radio waves when temperatures drop at night. Radio tranmission plays a role but cell towers (5G) may also be creating other frequencies that reverberate on objects to create noise.
The band widths are high value ($) and probably overloaded. All types of communications satellites overhead. Have not heard foreign voices. It’s a new form of noise harassment. My ears are ringing tonight. Interesting comments.
Hi Aki:
If these sounds are related to radio stations, then you have to match ALL of them ALL the time–not just coincidentally one night. There is no reason your heat pump is going to capture radio waves, demodulate them, convert them to audio sounds and send them through the pipes in your house. That is not science, just idle speculation. Especially, when it is known that such sounds result in audio pareidolia. Read my article on the subject so you understand what is really happening. You don’t have to speculate.
Cordially,
Neil
I was diagnosed with Menieres Disease about 8 years ago. This music I hear drives me crazy sometimes, its quite ‘catchy’. I could possibly make a few quid if I could write/make music.
I hear it all the time, even when there is no sound around me, in fact that’s the worse time. I hear anything from Brass bands to Boy bands. Right now it’s Country Road, along with the boiler.
With background noise I hear other familiar sounds such as my phone ringing in the shower or a talk show along with the refrigerator. Recently the talking has become just as bad as the singing and the only way to stop it is to play louder music.
I’ve assumed these things I hear are my brain trying to piece together something familiar to explain the noises in my head and what I miss in hearing.
I also have another sound, it’s like a huge bang but inside my head usually about the time I drop off to sleep and it’s loud and scary, it takes quite a bit of reasoning with myself it’s not real.
What is that?
Hi Clare:
From your description, you are experiencing Musical Ear Syndrome, and not audio pareidolia. And you are basically right that your brain is trying to hear more than your hearing loss allows it to.
However, when you hear the “big bang” during the semi-conscious state as you are just drifting off to sleep is a hypnagogic experience. “Hypnagogic” is just a fancy medical term that denotes a transitional state resembling hypnosis preceding sleep, applied to various hallucinations, in your case auditory, that may manifest themselves at that time.
What is happening is that your conscious brain is ‘shutting down’ at the point of going to sleep. Many electrical changes occur at this time, and these are often heard as a changing form of tinnitus. These sounds may be frightening but they are completely harmless. For example, one man began to experience explosive and roaring noises which start just as he is about to drop off to sleep.
If this occurs as you are waking up, you are having a hypnopompic experience.
You may also experience these same kind of weird hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences if you are entering a shallow level of sleep at times in the night that goes by the ghastly-sounding name of “Exploding Head” syndrome. In spite of its grisly name, your head doesn’t really explode—you just hear a loud exploding sound.
A lady explained, “A horrible, loud explosion woke me up last night and made me scream out a bit. It was really scary! What’s happening?”
What this lady experienced is relatively rare. You may experience a very loud and sudden noise such as a loud bang similar to a bomb exploding, a gun going off, a clash of cymbals, a door slamming, a roaring sound, waves crashing against rocks, loud voices or screams, a ringing noise, a terrific bang on a tin tray, the sound of electrical arcing (buzzing) or any other form of loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside your head. It most often occurs just before deep sleep (and sometimes upon coming out of deep sleep) and wakes you up. It can certainly scare you and set your heart to pounding.
Sometimes the sudden sound may not be as loud as an explosion, yet is still very disturbing. For example, a lady wrote, “Last night I was awakened by a very loud ”pop” in my left ear. Of course, there was nothing that actually went “pop” in the house. This has happened only a couple times in the past and always at night. Very disturbing.”
So you see, what you are experiencing are all perfectly normal, albeit sometimes scary, phenomena. Now you can put a name to them.
Cordially,
Neil
I have heard music coming from box fans since I was young, usually just the beat. Never the words. Until I got older and I had an ac window unit, I had to be laying a certain way but with no other sound in the house, I can hear the beat and the words to songs I’ve never heard before. I was hearing a song playing on the ac, and googled it real time and found the song I was hearing on the ac. And when the box fan is on with the ac, it amplifies it and makes it super loud like someone is blasting their radio. If I have my tv on too, the radio in the ac and fan is louder to me.
just be as I came out deep sleep I here from radio talk show sports and mucid not all a one time I have seen also I have been to a phychologist an auditory hallucition speciatist and my own doctor and no one can tell the why or how to stop it
Hi John:
Does this only occur as you wake up from sleep and no other time?
Does it occur every time you wake up, or only from time to time?
Does it only last a few seconds, or does it persist after you have woken up?
The answers to these three questions are critical to figuring what is going on with you.
Cordially,
Neil
Whenever I drink too much and I take some time off..which becomes withdrawals. I can hear chanting, conversations, yelling, different types of songs coming from the walls, a/c vents. I can hear them whoever I put ear plugs in to sleep.
I would also have horrible sleep paralysis and hear / see people.
Two nights ago it started happening again. I think my body is going through shock, so I think someone is trying to touch me. So bc I felt something during sleep paralysis, I’m scared I’m might be delusional. I finally got upset and prayed the rosary and it stopped. All of it.
But today during the day. I can hear the radio station sounds. I was napping with my 9 month baby and I thought she was saying “mommy” in a zombie voice, but it was from the lawn mower from outside. I also hear random pop noises. They’re getting more aggressive.
I’m starting to get scared bc I just read your response to Carren.
I just want to be as honest as I can be, so I can get the right answers. Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Tina:
Drinking can result in hallucinations. So for your physical and mental health, it would appear that you need to cut down on your drinking, or stop completely. Then see how many of your symptoms go away.
Sleep paralysis is normal if you wake up and your brain hasn’t reactivated your nerves so you can move, but nevertheless, it is scary. I used to have that when I was a teen, but haven’t experienced it in the past 50 years or so (at least not that I remember).
If your weird sounds are coming from a real source of background sound such as the A/C or the lawnmower, then you are experiencing audio pareidolia and that is nothing to worry about.
However, if you are experiencing phantom sounds and sights, etc. that are NOT associated with your drinking, then that’s a different story. It could be that the spirit world (demons) are your problem. If that is so, you need to turn to God. He is your only help. If you want, I can help you with this.
Cordially,
Neil
Can you do something to stop the music. I am losing a lot of sleep and becoming more nervous due to it.
Hi Sharon:
I know nothing about your hearing history. However, since you are replying to having phantom music with normal hearing, I assume you are experiencing audio pareidolia, not Musical Ear Syndrome. Is this correct?
If so, the solution is very simple. Turn off the device that is causing your audio pareidolia and it should stop instantly. Typically this is due to a furnace or air conditioner (or other motor device) running in the background.
Once you have determined the source of the audio pareidolia, you have to decide on a work-around if that is possible. You may not want to turn your furnace off in the middle of winter! But maybe you can move the head of your bed so it is not close to a furnace register for example.
If you have Musical Ear Syndrome and not audio pareidolia, then let me know and I’ll explain other options as these are two entirely different conditions.
Cordially,
Neil