# Ever have auditory hallucinations while sleeping? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980 "2011-09-29T05:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/1 "2011-09-29T05:02:13Z")
Well, I have. They have increased in frequency over the past couple of years; I never used to get them at all. This morning, at 4am, I was abruptly awakened by a loud phone ringing. But it was not my home phone or cell. It was in my head and was a totally different ring. I also often think I hear someone knocking at the door or calling for me, but then I wake up and realize that I dreamed that too. My mom does the same thing. Have you ever experienced something like this that was so vivid you thought it was really happening? ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/2 "2011-09-29T05:04:29Z")
My dreams are so clear that at times I am not sure if I am remembering something I actually did, or something I dreamed. I have been woken up by dream thunderstorms, dream door bells, etc. However, unlike you, it’s been getting much less frequent as I age. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/3 "2011-09-29T05:07:40Z")
Yep. Just this week I woke up when someone said my name, but no one was there. A lot of us experience both [hypnagogic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogic_hallucination) and [hypnopompic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnopompia) hallucinations, especially people with sleep difficulties. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/4 "2011-09-29T06:08:38Z")
Yes, my sleep patterns are changing as are the type of dreams I have. I have heard knocks at my door that woke me from a deep sleep that were not really happening. Last night I had a dream so scary that it took me over an hour to get back to sleep. I don’t think it can be considered a dream, I guess it was a nightmare or night terror. I laid there sort of frozen for a long time unable to move when I awoke from it. I was wishing I had someone to roll over and hug. Sleep patterns change with age I think. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/5 "2011-09-29T06:09:31Z")
Occasionally I wake up swearing I heard someone calling my name, or one of the kids calling for Mom. That one is not as often as it once was, and I used to think it was just the protective mother in me being paranoid. I’ve been half awake and picked up my cell phone because I was sure it rang when it wasn’t even on. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/6 "2011-09-29T06:54:28Z")
Yes. Ever since I started taking citalopram for generalized anxiety, my dreams have been so vivid that the sounds within my dreams are indistinguishable from perceived reality. Knocking doors, ringing alarms, that kind of thing. Never heard actual coherent voices – now as always, I often dream of writing on a scroll and, now as always, think I should write some of that down. But, noises? Yes. Some may be real, from neighbors. But I know when the doorbell rings for real, it’s time for me to get up and go grab a slice with whatever friend du jour is. If it’s hallucinated, I tend to be weirded out but somehow know it’s not real. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/7 "2011-09-29T07:47:38Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Well, I have. They have increased in frequency over the past couple of years; I never used to get them at all. > This morning, at 4am, I was abruptly awakened by a loud phone ringing. But it was not my home phone or cell. It was in my head and was a totally different ring. > I also often think I hear someone knocking at the door or calling for me, but then I wake up and realize that I dreamed that too. > My mom does the same thing. > > Have you ever experienced something like this that was so vivid you thought it was really happening? This is… freaky. This is exactly what happened to me this morning. I “heard” a phone ringing that doesn’t sound anything like a phone in one of the neighbouring flats or in mine. 😕 I thought it was just me that had these kinds of things! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/8 "2011-09-29T09:52:33Z")
Me … I have [exploding head syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome) now and again, which frequently ends up sounding like yet another car jumping the curve into the trees at one corner of the property. I get fewer faux phone calls - I changed to a cell phone permanently about 6 years back and my ring is a[688 general quarters](http://www.policeinterceptor.com/navysounds.htm) which is not something that my mind is accustomed to hearing, so when I hear a standard[Southern Bell/AT&T ringtone](http://www.soundjay.com/phone-sounds-1.html), I know it isn’t real. [on the plus side, the 688 ring tone can blast mrAru out of bed, got to love 20 years sub duty for pavlovian conditioning. :D] I do occasionally hear voices, the off in a distance type, not the in my head telling me bad things type. Never been able to figure those out, nor can my doctor. I think they may be some form of paranormal seeing how for a number of years my very deceased great grandfather was my imaginary playmate, but since my house shows no other paranormal activity, I am just rolling with it. I tend to have fairly realistic, in color dreams. However there is always something off, typically now being that I can walk unassisted. Before it was being fairly young and thin. [me being 50 this October, obese since 1993 and gimp for the past 3 years.] When I was younger, it was more difficult to tell if I was dreaming or not, it was more or less situational clues like the people or places being wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/9 "2011-09-29T10:15:38Z")
It happens from time to time that I’m awakened by a telephone signal or some other sound. Very irritating if I have finally managed to fall asleep and this happens a couple of minutes later. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/10 "2011-09-29T14:53:46Z")
Only during the first month of my first kid. Fatigue and exhaustion caused me to hear him crying even when he was sound asleep. Fortunately that was over 16 years ago, and never re-occurred with my subsequent kids. ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/11 "2011-09-29T15:03:47Z")
When my second baby was newish, I was nursing him in the wee hours once, awake (I thought). The smoke alarm went off, and I leapt up, him still latched and sleeping and ran to wake my husband. I couldn’t understand how the baby, my husband, and my older child were sleeping through it, but then it stopped and my (now awake) husband said I must have dreamed it. I didn’t think I was sleeping, but I must have been. I’ll never forget how lucid I was and how real it seemed. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/12 "2011-09-29T18:04:49Z")
Oh, I’ve had increasing sleep diffiulties over the past few years. Must be my hormones or middle age. Sheesh. My mom was always a good sleeper until her oncologist put her on Arimidex–which is known to cause hot flashes at night as well as insomnia. So now she also gets Zolpidem to help her sleep. Damn pills and side effects. Years ago, when Halcion was legal, I tried one so I could sleep while staying at my cousin’s house. (She is a nurse and had them at the time.) It made me have dreams/hallucations that were so vivid I thought I was awake. Never again. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/13 "2011-09-29T18:05:50Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > This is… freaky. This is exactly what happened to me this morning. I “heard” a phone ringing that doesn’t sound anything like a phone in one of the neighbouring flats or in mine. 😕 > > I thought it was just me that had these kinds of things! Maybe you also heard the phone from inside my head. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/14 "2011-09-29T18:19:08Z")
Yep. I can sense a child by my bed saying ‘Mom’ softly every week or so. Sometimes it is really them, sometimes just my imagination. I have to check on them each time to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/15 "2011-09-29T19:03:57Z")
Yes. For a while I was frequently wakened by someone calling my name, though it was simply dreaming. Hypnogogic auditory sensations actually, in the state between sleep and waking. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/16 "2011-09-29T19:12:51Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Me … I have [exploding head syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome) now and again Wow.. I didn’t know that was a common thing. Every now and then I will suddenly hear a sound like a gunshot or someone kicking in a door. Now I know what that is. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/17 "2011-09-30T14:33:03Z")
Not to get too heavy, but I was having auditory hallucination while awake…even from the TV (the TIVO confirmed). I ended up being diagnosed with seizures (CPS or the left temporal lobe, not the grand mal, fall over type). If it’s only happening ina dream state I don’t think it’s a big deal, but if you notice that the TV is saying things it shouldn’t I’d perhaps call a doc. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/18 "2011-09-30T14:43:28Z")
I often have auditory hallucinations just as I’m falling asleep, falling into the hypnogogic category. These are almost always voices, of all ages–men, women, children. They often speak in a complete sentence, but not always, and it’s never a person’s voice I recognize. I can easily see how someone having hallucinations like I do, hearing voices, could construe that as hearing ghosts. Fortunately, I learned about hypnopompic/gogic sleep a long time ago, and I actually find these voices almost comforting. On the other hand, I’ve had night terrors so bad over the years that even when I turn on the light, I still see something in my room for a few seconds. Once, it was a river running through my bedroom. Another time, it was a black figure sitting on my bookcase. Just dreams, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/19 "2011-09-30T15:10:54Z")
I must be having them. Every so often, I tell **Mrs. Spiff** that she snored throughout the night, which she always denies doing. Since _the wife is never wrong_, I must therefore be having auditory hallucinations. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980/20 "2011-09-30T15:15:54Z")
I occasionally imagine my phone ringing or my alarm clock going off, or my boss yelling my name. Usually when I oversleep. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-have-auditory-hallucinations-while-sleeping/597980.md?page=2)