QUESTION: Your answer about out-of-the-body experiences (June 26) must have been reassuring to anyone who has had the experience and was disbelieved when they described the event. I'm writing about a different kind of experience – music playing in one's head. In addition to a variety of music, I also have sounds of noisy motors, a distant train or non-musical drumming. Have you come across any information on this kind of auditory hallucination?
– Marianne Plank,
San Marcos
ANSWER: Everyone has had an earworm – a snippet of a song playing over and over in one's head like a broken record. Someone's ring tone, a visit to Disneyland or the mere mention of an annoying tune (I promise I'll refrain) is enough to set it off. What distinguishes a musical hallucination from an earworm is that a musical hallucination appears to originate from outside one's head.
People are often afraid to admit they are hearing things for fear they will be thought of as mentally ill, but auditory hallucinations seem to be fairly common in mentally sound people who have ear problems. In one study, researchers interviewed 32 people who had lost hearing in both ears and discovered that all had experienced musical hallucinations.
These hallucinations are a form of tinnitus – usually a more generic buzzing or ringing in the ears. Changes in fluid levels in the inner ear as occur in Meniere's disease can cause auditory hallucinations in some people, as can many drugs, including alcohol, blood-pressure medication and even aspirin.
Musical hallucinations are considered analogous to Charles Bonnet syndrome, in which visually impaired people see things that are not there; and phantom limb syndrome, in which amputees have sensations that seem to be in their missing limb. The common link among these syndromes is sensory deprivation. According to one explanation, normal sensory input suppresses the nerve circuits in which sensory memories are stored. When these circuits are no longer inhibited, previously recorded perceptions are released and re-experienced.
Depending on the cause, musical hallucinations can be reduced with a hearing aid (if hearing loss is involved), controlling retention of fluids (if changes in fluid volume in the inner ear are involved), or changing medications in consultation with a physician.
Perhaps it is even possible to harness the hallucinations for good. Some researchers believe musicians are predisposed to musical hallucinations; famous composers such as Beethoven and Schumann experienced them.
For information about clinical trials on tinnitus, see clinicaltrials.gov.
Sherry Seethaler is a UCSD science writer and educator. Send scientific questions to her at Quest, The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191. Or e-mail sseethaler@ucsd.edu. Please include your name, city of residence and phone number.
