• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Contact | 360-778-1266

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Reference
    • Glossary of Ear Terms
    • Drug Pronunciation Guide
    • Looping Information
    • “Learn About Hearing”
    • Useful Links
  • Museum
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Alerting Devices
    • Assistive Listening Devices
    • Books
    • Loop Systems
    • Speechreading CDs
    • Telephones, amplified
    • Visor Cards

Phantom Voices From Taking Various Drugs

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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. wendy l. wallace says

    July 8, 2008 at 5:12 PM

    I took claritin for whooping cough over the Winter. I was born with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. I just had a hearing test yesterday, and the hearing in my left ear has deteriorated drastically. Any correlation? Wendy L. Wallace

    Reply
  2. Cynthia Chapple says

    March 15, 2021 at 9:56 AM

    i took this drug for 3 days. i’ve never had random voices in my head before. this is an alarming feeling. day 3 i realized it was the drug. i switched to loratidine and threw away the zyrtec

    Reply
    • Neil Bauman, Ph.D. says

      March 15, 2021 at 10:18 AM

      Hi Cynthia:

      Not all drugs act the same with every person. You got the phantom voices from taking Cetirizine (Zyrtec) and indeed it is listed as causing auditory hallucinations in some people.

      It’s interesting that you switched to Loratadine (Claritin) and didn’t get these phantom sounds, yet there are more reports of people getting phantom sounds from Loratadine than from Cetirizine.

      Cordially,

      Neil

      Reply
  3. Jennifer Pezzotti says

    March 18, 2023 at 1:21 PM

    I came here because this is happening to me. I had to stop taking zyrtec and Claritin when I take either for more than a day I can hear a distinct male voice telling me to hang myself and how to do it. Then the last time I took the pill when the male voice started up with all the easy ways I can hang myself a female voice told him to stop telling me how to do this. It was crazy. Trust me I have never had suicidal thoughts about hanging myself. So now I am suffering my allergies and it’s awful. I can take Sudafed for sinus headache but that is it.

    Reply
    • Neil Bauman, Ph.D. says

      March 20, 2023 at 6:44 AM

      Hi Jennifer:

      When you take a drug and hear voices telling you to kill yourself, this is not a good drug for you at all. Some of these drugs open your mind to demon oppression and you then may hear their evil demonic voices telling you to do bad things.

      Have you tried all the other allergy medications? There should be something that will help control your allergies without the demonic side effects. Doctors have their favorite drugs they prescribe, but in your case, you need to ask your doctor to think outside the box to find a different class of drugs that will help you.

      Cordially,

      Neil

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hearing Loss Research & Resources

Free Visor Cards

Download your free Visor Cards for hard of hearing or deaf people here.

Loop Systems

Loop your home or meeting room. Discover how you can hear wonderfully clear sound again when listening to the TV/radio, etc, or when listening to a speaker at a meeting.

Loop systems are one of the best-kept secrets in town. To learn more about Loop Systems and what they can do for you, click here.

Take Control of Your Tinnitus—Here’s How

If your ears ring, buzz, chirp, hiss, click or roar, you know just how annoying tinnitus can be. You do not have to put up with this racket for the rest of your life. This book teaches you many things you can do to help bring your tinnitus under your control so it no longer bothers you.

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Sounds Now Too Loud for You?

Hypersensitive to Sound front coverIf some (or all) normal sounds seem so loud they “blow the top of your head off”, or make you wince or jump, or cause you headaches or ear pain, or affect your balance, or result in fear or annoyance of sounds so you feel you have to avoid these sounds, this book is for you!

Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Hearing Phantom Sounds?

When hard of hearing people begin hearing phantom voices or music, they immediately worry they are going crazy. It never crosses their minds that they are sane and are just experiencing Musical Ear syndrome.

To learn more about the strange phantom sounds of Musical Ear syndrome and what you can do about them, click here to read a comprehensive article about Musical Ear Syndrome.

Or get the book—Learn More | Add to Cart—Printed | Add to Cart—eBook

Glossary Navigation

  • Full List of Glossary Terms
  • A to Z Index

Footer

Center for Hearing Loss Help

Neil G. Bauman, Ph.D.

1013 Ridgeway Drive, Lynden,
WA 98264-1057 USA

Email: neil@hearinglosshelp.com

Phone: 360-778-1266 (M-F 9:00 AM-5:00 PM PST)

© 2025 Center for Hearing Loss Help – Help for your hearing loss, tinnitus and other ear conditions

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life [which also includes perfect hearing] through Jesus Christ our Lord." [Romans 6:23]

"But know this, in the last days perilous times will come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. "For there will be famines, pestilences, and [severe] earthquakes in various places" [Matthew 24:7], "distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring"—tsunamis, hurricanes—Luke 21:25, but this is good news if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads [and rejoice] because your redemption draws near" [Luke 21:28].