# Anyone else hear music/singing when a fan is on? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663 "2015-09-27T01:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/1 "2015-09-27T01:33:25Z")
For as long as I can remember, whenever there is a fan on, or something softly oscillating in the air, I hear music. I’ve never spoken to anyone else who has this experience. What’s both odd and fascinating to me is that the “music” is never the same, even with all the same conditions. Tonight it was a torch singer. Two nights ago it was an orchestra. I imagine my brain is pulling a memory of something I’ve heard (rather than composing something new). Sometimes it is so beautiful that I’d love to write it down, but I’m sadly not very musical. So, anyone else? Is there science to explain it? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/2 "2015-09-27T02:02:32Z")
It’s quite common - [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=756348)’s a recent thread on it. I get it a lot myself. For example, when having a bath where I live I often hear what sounds like up-tempo 1970s rock with a heavy bass. If I turn the fan off it stops. I’m fairly musical and, although I feel as though I can make out the musical key (pitch), tempo, some rhythmic information and sometimes the style of music, it never feels loud enough that I could define a melody out of it. As noted in the other thread, it’s probably an example of [Pareidolia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia) - “a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists” - and [Apophenia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia) - “the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns within random data”. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/3 "2015-09-27T02:27:18Z")
Interesting thought. Last few nights we have slept with the fans on high and I have been having dreams of writing songs. Something I don’t think I have ever dreamed about before. I don’t give music much thought as a rule. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/4 "2015-09-27T06:40:24Z")
I work with several high volume printers and indeed, the very repetitive sounds they make cause me to hear not only music but also phrases. I’m pretty sure the biggest one says: “It’s a matter of choice” over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/5 "2015-09-27T07:01:17Z")
I’ve never identified it as music, but I’ve heard sounds i could have sworn were real. Usually muffled talking. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/6 "2015-09-28T17:29:47Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > I’ve never identified it as music, but I’ve heard sounds i could have sworn were real. Usually muffled talking. Exactly this for me. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/7 "2015-09-28T18:10:23Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Exactly this for me. Me too! I thought I was nuts! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/8 "2015-09-28T18:21:04Z")
Not so much with a fan but almost always when I’m in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/9 "2015-09-28T18:36:20Z")
I sleep with a fan on to drown out other noises. This doesn’t always work because sometimes the fan sounds like it’s picking up a faint radio broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/10 "2015-09-28T18:40:59Z")
This doesn’t happen with the box fan I sleep with on now, but it has occurred in the past. It’s not quite the same thing, but just incidentally, my washing machine says, “Can I go?” over and over. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/11 "2015-09-28T21:19:20Z")
I often feel like if I only turned the fan off, I’d be able to hear the “music” clearly enough to identify it. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/12 "2015-09-28T21:36:20Z")
For most of my (adult, at least) life: When becoming awake slowly, any nondescript sound will (try to) be interpreted as speech. I have full-blown audio hallucinations (uncommon), but the ‘try to interpret sound as speech and/or music’ is, AIUI, quite common. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/13 "2015-09-30T04:44:40Z")
Yes. I thought I was hallucinating. I reported it to the psychiatrist I see and she didn’t seem to think it was “normal”. ---
**Author:** ![McDoogins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@McDoogins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDoogins)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/14 "2015-09-30T05:15:37Z")
I rarely hear things that aren’t there but it happens occasionally. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fan or AC. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/15 "2015-09-30T05:47:42Z")
To the OP, yes, this happens to me too. Interesting to know, I am not alone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/16 "2015-09-30T10:51:34Z")
Happens to me also ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/17 "2015-09-30T16:08:06Z")
_I hear singing and there’s no one there I smell blossoms and the trees are bare All day long I seem to walk on air I wonder why, I wonder why_ You’re not sick, you’re just in love. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/18 "2015-09-30T16:09:13Z")
Me, too. Sometimes music, sometimes just muffled talking. ---
**Author:** ![Runt23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Runt23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runt23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/19 "2018-05-10T04:19:58Z")
I have heard music when I turn on my fan at night in my bedroom for years. I have even been able to make out the song that’s playing. I have been able to find the song on the radio that I have heard playing with the fan on. Even though the radio is off and in the other room. I had only ever heard it in my bedroom until a couple of years ago. I took a trip to Ohio and I am from Oklahoma. I was staying at some friends house and I turned on the fan and I heard music there. I was able to make out the radio station called The River. When I asked my friends if they had a radio station called that they verified it was just down the street. Everything I have read and what I know to be true is the fan acts like an amplifier. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663/20 "2018-05-10T08:47:17Z")
When I was a child, up to about ten, I heard music and voices in the drone of my dad’s car. It went away, but came back about five years ago, at age 75, but it has diminished somewhat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-hear-music-singing-when-a-fan-is-on/732663.md?page=2)