Comments on: Musical hallucinations

By: Bob Costello

Bob Costello — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:31:59 +0000

i’m 76-male, and had a C-I in july 2012–I never heard music prior to C-I-one mo. after implant, I began hearing music, quite loud, and I could understand words.The songs repeat and repeat, and then may change to another tune, and repeat, voices are mens choral lowtones-variety incl.-patriotic-religious-childrens nursury rymes.(example)The farmer in the dell–happy birthday song-america the beautiful-auld ang-sine.I can at times, change songs mentally-My surgeon told me i’m not crazy. very inlightning!I also wear an aid-(a BTE)-I’m actualy getting use to the music.
altho, trouble sleeping–looking for cure and answers–HELP !

By: arlis

arlis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:37:57 +0000

it is a blessing from God. enjoy it.

By: arlis

arlis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:35:26 +0000

i have heard music for 5 years. they are not songs i have heard. just melodies. chimes. harps. organs. sometimes loud. i sometimes hear them in dreams and when i wakeup the melody is still playing. i play my guitar and amp with headphones on an i hear a choir trumpets lead guitar flutes. opera singer. keyboard with strings sound. its simply beautiful. all at the same time. alternating which one comes loud. in different ears. all playing something different but it matches i love it!

By: Dorothy Ward

Dorothy Ward — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:05:15 +0000

I have had music hallucinations for over two years. I hear mostly beautiful, most of which is familiar but also some that is not. There have been songs with absolutely beautiful harmony that I am sure I haven’t heard before. These are male voices in all ranges. I have also heard songs where the vocalist wasn’t familiar to me but his name popped into my head. I Googled it to see if there was such a person and yes, that person had recorded that song. I am 81 years old and deaf. I was a singer and actress.

I rarely mention this condition because it seems to make others uncomfortable or to smile and ignore what I have said. I do have two friends with the same condition.

By: cathy

cathy — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:41:59 +0000

I hear background music and sounds of the weather channel and news reporters after I turn off the tv. I hear the same when I am in bed and have the window air conditioner on and some times coming from the air conditioner in my office.

During college football season I would hear football announcers and band music. One night I could not fall asleep because of the football sounds that I got up to check the TV -it was off but I could still hear it – so I unplugged it.

I have read some reports of hearing radio or tv through fans, outlets and appliances. I hope that is all this is.

Anyone else?

By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:43:04 +0000

Hearing songs 24hrs a day makes me so restless. For a long time I thought it was normal to hear parts of certain songs repeating over and over, until a few days ago when I started reading about adult bipolar. Before that I’d never heard of auditory hullcinations.

By: Grace Matthews

Grace Matthews — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:29:45 +0000

Rachel, I have this happen quite a lot and the only thing I can suggest to you is to get some background noise happening – this helps me, it interferes somehow.

I moved to Edinburgh recently and the noises of the city have reduced this so much… just a thought.

I noticed that background noise helped a while ago and so I started leaving the television on… I accidently taught myself to fall asleep to it and it has taken me nearly a year to de-train myself (I was passing out in the cinema a lot… ah, so many good films I have snoozed through thanks to that mishap). =P

By: Grace Matthews

Grace Matthews — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:16:27 +0000

I remember my first musical hallucination… I was working in a kitchen in my home town and I had been listening to the radio all day (we always listened to the charts on Sunday) when this song came on and I had to stop working, it was the most awesome thing I had ever heard (I’ve noticed that each one of these hallucinations tends to be ‘the most awesome thing I’ve ever heard’)… I ran over to the radio and cranked it up rocking out to it… when I turned around the entire kitchen staff was looking at me like I was mad – the radio had been broken since the previous evening… but I had listened to it for about 4 hours in a row.

I went to a doctor the next day as I had been experiencing mood swings and whatnot… they have pretty much decided that I am Bi-Polar… so, maybe this is a warning, if you start seeing and hearing things that aren’t real then it could very well be a sign of something larger… especially in your later adolescence.

Ever since that day I have had many many hallucinations… I’m not allowed to drive until I’ve gone four months without one and mostly they are original works (I have even figured a fair few out on the guitar) – it is really strange playing them though, because I know they didn’t exist until I heard them but they still feel like a cover song because I wasn’t singing.

It isn’t uncommon for one of my favourite artists to be singing a song I have written – Alicia Keys and Sam Sparro have both appeared in my dreams singing songs they have never performed.
I think it is considered to be ‘creative ideation’ under the flag of Bi-Polar…

I can’t control it but I consider it a gift… and I have my iPhone at hand with Evernote installed so I can hum or sing the lyrics, with practice I can now get most of the melody together. I tend to break the songs down to the different instruments (so I whistle a saxophone bit, hum the drum beat, it can get quite complex)… I have a massive database now of about 30,000 clips. I figured out that they would play for 20 days straight if I played them one after the other.

Anyway, the point in all this text is that I would suggest you go to a doctor if you are experiencing hallucinations (especially if they are keeping you awake – the amount of times this has happened to me I cannot count).

By: Rachel Firth

Rachel Firth — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 04:00:24 +0000

For the last two days I have had Christmas Carols and turgid Victorian Hymns playing in my head. At first I thought it was the neighbours, but it seemed unlikely that anyone would play the first verse of O Come All yea Faithful over and over for hours. (Tonight’s special is Deck the Halls)Plus it’s the same volume wherever I am in the house. And the choir fudges over the lyrics if I don;t know them. I can control what is sung if I concentrate, but I can’t stop it and it would seem that it has to be choral. It’s driving me up the wall. No sleep tonight at all and work tomorrow.

By: oosh

oosh — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:38:01 +0000

I’ve had unique music (which is hands down the most colossally awesome music I’ve ever heard) playing in my head all my life. My mother has it to, but experienced it more when she was younger. Both of us are musically inclined/gifted, so it’s not a problem to say the least! I have been able to transcribe parts of them (as they are constantly progressing and unending). But, to do so I have to “tune out” of whatever “mode” my brain is in (while listening to/altering it) to play it or write it down. By the time I tune back “in” the music has progressed. I’ve found that using a mini voice recorder helps in the moment. One thing I have noticed is that I have a hard time “hearing” it when I’m in a depressed state; full of doubt & defeatism.