# Does everyone get earworms? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704 "2013-06-23T14:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/1 "2013-06-23T14:19:59Z")
Many of us get music stuck in our head - “earworms.” But is this universal? Are there any people out there who don’t get earworms? (For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider people with more or less normal hearing.) ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/2 "2013-06-23T15:39:30Z")
I get them. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/3 "2013-06-23T17:39:14Z")
Interesting question. Your question makes me wonder if this happens to people only in developed countries where advertising jingles and hooky pop music are common. As it turns out Cecil has actually addressed your question: [Why do songs get stuck in your head? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2901/why-do-songs-get-stuck-in-your-head) > [@](#): > > A 2003 study by Kellaris showed that nearly 98 percent of people experienced earworms, usually involving sung rather than instrumental tunes. (Una’s Vivaldi was a relative rarity, obviously indicating her superior intellect.) While women and men experienced earworms equally often, women had to put up with them for longer and were more likely to be peeved. Kellaris’s research also suggests that musicians and those inclined to worry are particularly susceptible to worm attacks. > … > > In an unscientific poll on the Straight Dope Message Board, more than half of 91 respondents reported experiencing earworms daily, with popular music by far the most common culprit. About half could get rid of an earworm only by putting something else in its place; 30 percent said nothing worked reliably. Another survey of 286 people found earwormants typically had heard the song three times or more just before the earworm set in and were in a “neutral to positive emotional state” but alone and bored. So avoid ennui, my friends. That’s when the earworms strike. ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/4 "2013-06-23T19:28:54Z")
I would think everyone would, but I asked a friend about it once and she said she rarely if ever has music stuck in her head. I on the other hand have a constant radio playing and it’s not always clear to me how a particular song ended up in my head. I started a thread about it a while ago and I think most who replied to the thread also had music stuck in their head on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/5 "2013-06-23T19:37:57Z")
> [@CatherineZeta](#): > > I would think everyone would, but I asked a friend about it once and she said she rarely if ever has music stuck in her head. I on the other hand have a constant radio playing and it’s not always clear to me how a particular song ended up in my head. I started a thread about it a while ago and I think most who replied to the thread also had music stuck in their head on a regular basis. I have a constant radio as well, generally with songs I like playing. Usually I can “play” songs I like, though, so I also would have said I don’t get songs stuck in my head. I got Sirius Satellite radio for Christmas, and have just recently started playing around with other channels, like the 80s or the 90s. Heard Joe Jackson’s “I’m the Man” once or twice, and holy crap it got stuck. I’m trying to be careful now about listening to songs with catchy parts that I would have heard thousands of times twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/6 "2013-06-24T13:26:21Z")
I’ve heard that there are 3 groups of people who get earworms most often: neurotic people, women, and musicians. I am so screwed… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/7 "2013-06-24T13:30:33Z")
It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small, small world. ---
**Author:** ![hkepotat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hkepotat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hkepotat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/8 "2013-06-24T13:53:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small, small world. Thanks, now I need to get my earphones and browse youtube music videos until THAT one is gone. My friend gets songs stuck in his head, hums them out loud, and is absolutely tone deaf. We play a game where I try to guess what he is humming until I am either right, or I throw him off and he starts humming something else. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/9 "2013-06-24T13:58:17Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’ve heard that there are 3 groups of people who get earworms most often: neurotic people, women, and musicians. I would add parents of small children. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/10 "2013-06-24T14:02:22Z")
The only thing that triggers an earworm in me is when I hear a phrase in normal conversation that takes me to a song. My earworms seem to have a short life of no more than about 15 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/11 "2013-06-24T14:19:28Z")
My ears are continuously infested by them. You could wake me up at 3am and ask me which song is playing in my head and I’d tell you. I am never without an earworm. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/12 "2013-06-24T14:47:14Z")
I rarely get them, and when I do it’s usually quite easy for me to get rid of them. This drives my wife insane because she gets them all the time. When I want to tick her off I just go “mahna mahna…” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/13 "2013-06-25T00:07:37Z")
I get them bad, especially first thing in the morning. It is often a bit of a song, lyrics or tune, or perhaps a phrase. They echo around up there and usually fade after an hour. Thinking about it, I wonder if it is the distraction of driving that drives the worm from my ear? The latest one? A friend referred me to an article on a motorsport website called [Jalopnik](http://jalopnik.com/). jalopnikjalopnikjalopnikjalopnik… If it is a song, I often learn to play it on the piano which doesn’t really help get it out of my head but is still satisfying in a difficult to describe way. I can ‘play along’ with the earworm. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-get-earworms/661704/14 "2013-06-25T01:05:52Z")
I seem to have spells of them. I’ll get one and it will be stuck for a couple days. I go to sleep hearing it, wake up hearing it. I’ll try to replace it but it comes right back. Eventually I’ll realize it’s gone. And then I’ll be relatively free for a while. Noticing just now, though, I’m hearing three notes on a loop in the back of my mind. Not really noticeable unless I concentrate on it. Maybe that helps keep earworms away. 🙂