I don’t know what to make of it. I had the TV and my computer on and I suddenly heard music – a guitar strumming some unidentifiable tune. At first I thought some ad had popped up in my browser, but I couldn’t find it. I muted my TV, and the music didn’t go away. In fact, the more I listened and interpreted the sound, the stranger it got. It was only in my right ear. It sounded as if it was coming from within the ear. I turned the TV and the computer off, but the music continued.
I thought, twice, that maybe I’d dozed off wearing an earbud, and reached to remove it. But it wasn’t there. And it was a coherent tune – I mean it had rises and falls in rhythm and note progression that sounded like a real song and not some random notes being played.
And then it stopped, probably within a minute or so of starting, though I was so upset over the experience I wasn’t really focusing on time. It hasn’t come back. And I don’t want it to come back.
I never experienced anything like this, not even 30 years ago when I took a few acid trips. And I don’t think I’ll ever have a satisfactory explanation.
A couple of months ago I heard a loud chime/beep sound that I assumed was a notification from my phone, but my phone wasn’t in the room. So, I told my gf her phone just dinged, but she checked her phone and there weren’t any notifications. Our tablets weren’t around either. Then it happened again, but my gf didn’t hear it.
My gf has perfect hearing and I’m deaf in one ear and wear an aid in the other. I was scared, then I realized my new hearing aid had a different low battery notification alert that I was hearing for the first time. But I was ready to head for the ER before realizing the source.
(My old hearing aid low battery signal was the word “battery” spoken in a crisp, male voice. Even though the technician warned me, I freaked the first couple times I heard it.)
Hell, I’ve had a friggin’ jukebox in my head for about 8 years now - the tunes of my youth, sounding as if a record played on an old-fashioned ‘record player’* in another room.
Tinny and distorted, but true to what I heard on the radio all those years ago.
Beats the usual whine of the tinnitus I’ve had since 1996.
a small box with a handle, crude turntable and ‘stereo’ amplifier and speakers, not made since ca 1965
Heh. Just read the linked Wiki article on ‘Musical Ear Syndrome’ - no clues as to cause(s), but notes that some treatments involve Benzodiazepines - I use one nightly for sleep and have been through at least 7 of them.
Nice try, guys, but no cigar on that one.
I have had exactly one vivid auditory hallucination.
At the beginning ofa movie…I think “Once Upon a Time in the West,” the opening scene is a squeaky windmill.
Within a week of seeing that, I was at work and HEARD a rhythmic squeaking in the hallway/common. I walked out and looked around…couldnt find it. At least two other people were right on the vicinity. I asked if they heard that, and they had no idea what I was talking about.
It stopped right after that. I realized then that it was the sound from the movie.
This was over 5 years ago, and I haven’t had a stroke yet
It does make me a bit terrified of more hallucinations. Until then, I didn’t realize how really real they are.
I had this almost all throughout 2014. It started with the sound of a guitar next door, progressed the carol “Good King Wenceslas” on the supermarket music system, and later involved howling wind and moaning at night as well as songs my brain just made up. Among the highlights:
I was taking a test and the voice (as I affectionately called it) started singing “Old McDonald Had a Farm.” I almost blew the test, what with all the “ee-i–eee–i--o” bit.
I woke to the sound of the voice chanting “Gutenheimer, gutenheimer, gutenheimer, OK!” which was rather unnerving.
The voice decided to help me out during a job interview by yelling “In canem corporae transmuto!” at me several times. Being informed that a disembodied being was going to turn me into a dog was a bit distracting and I did not get the job.
I vacationed in an area that had been ground zero for the dust-bowl and the voice, not without a sense of humor, sang “Blowing In the Wind” the whole time.
An MRI confirmed that I was not having a stroke or tumor. I am part deaf but since that can’t be treated the doctors put me on an antipsychotic (risperdone). Now the voice is gone and I hate to say it, but I sometimes miss the obnoxious SOB.
I’m male - near as I kin tale, iffn i’s live long ‘nuff; my prostat will grow that there cancer stuff an kill me dead.
meantime. I’s enjoyin’ the free-like record player.
I’ve had periodic auditory hallucinations for as long as I can remember: they’re not frequent, but they always happen while I’m falling asleep. They can be a little disconcerting, but I’ve done some research and I’m not worried about them.
You think that’s scary? One of my friends is schizophrenic. He started hearing random comments while working at his desk at night after the near by night clubs opened. It stopped when we unplugged the speakers.
Which was a major relief for him, what with random voices being either destructive spirts or a medical condition which had damn near destroyed his life before.
