# Why do I hear piano in my right ear?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 17, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499 "2013-01-17T12:55:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@laos88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laos88)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/1 "2013-01-17T12:55:50Z")
I keep hearing piano keys ding ding ding…and it keeps repeating itself over and over again. I been hearing this sound since last night. I woke up thought someone was playing baby’s piano upstairs at 4 something AM! I asked my boyfriend to see if her hear it well, but he said NO, I thought I’m going insane. I very want this piano rings to go away, please helps.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/2 "2013-01-17T13:00:08Z")
Reported for forum change.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/3 "2013-01-17T14:12:17Z")
Moved to IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Old\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Red)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/4 "2013-01-17T14:38:02Z")
I don’t know what the answer is - but - I hear a string quartet in my head. Perhaps we can team up for a full orchestra?
Seriously though, it could be a sudden onset of tinnitus. Mine started in exactly the same way - all of a sudden I heard a rushing sound, like a train passing by. It disappeared after a few hours but then came back more and more often. It is now an almost permanent feature of my life.
Unfortunately there is generally no permanent effective cure. If it is tinnitus then you need to train yourself to ignore it as much as you can - very easy to say and very hard to do. Try not to actively listen to the noise and try and find a distraction to take your mind off it.
Best wishes and good luck.
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### Author:  [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/5 "2013-01-17T14:53:48Z")
> [@laos88](#):
>
> I keep hearing piano keys ding ding ding…and it keeps repeating itself over and over again. I been hearing this sound since last night. I woke up thought someone was playing baby’s piano upstairs at 4 something AM! I asked my boyfriend to see if her hear it well, but he said NO, I thought I’m going insane. I very want this piano rings to go away, please helps.
You should see a doctor.
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### Author:  [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/6 "2013-01-17T16:01:13Z")
> [@Old\_Red](#):
>
> I don’t know what the answer is - but - I hear a string quartet in my head. Perhaps we can team up for a full orchestra?
Count me in on this imaginary orchestra! I hear a flute.
The first time I heard it I, like the OP, wondered why on earth my neighbours were playing music at three in the morning. I do plan to mention it to my doctor next time I see him if it hasn’t stopped happening by then, but for now I’m not too bothered by it. It’s really quite beautiful music.
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### Author:  [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/7 "2013-01-17T18:37:37Z")
Besides tinnitus, there’s actually a condition called [musical ear syndrome](http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/mes.htm), where instead of simple sounds, you hear what might as well be music.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/8 "2013-01-17T18:44:13Z")
> [@laos88](#):
>
> I keep hearing piano keys ding ding ding…and it keeps repeating itself over and over again. I been hearing this sound since last night. I woke up thought someone was playing baby’s piano upstairs at 4 something AM! I asked my boyfriend to see if her hear it well, but he said NO, I thought I’m going insane. I very want this piano rings to go away, please helps.
Do you still hear it when you leave home?
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/9 "2013-01-17T19:17:01Z")
I’ve woken up several times in the past few weeks, between 4 and 4:30 am, thinking that I hear a radio or TV on somewhere else in the house. It could be music or someone talking, and is always at that just barely audible threshold. I got up once to try to locate it, but no luck, so I guess I’m just hearing things.
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### Author:  [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/10 "2013-01-17T19:25:10Z")
I heard about something like this recently on NPR. I think this is it: [Exclusive First Read: 'Hallucinations,' By Oliver Sacks : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2012/10/24/163271304/exclusive-first-read-hallucinations-by-oliver-sacks)
[QUOTE=The link]
I have had tinnitus as far back as I can remember. It is present almost 24/7 and is very high pitched. It sounds exactly like how cicadas sound when they come in droves back on Long Island in the summer. Sometime in the last year [I also became aware of] the music playing in my head. I kept hearing Bing Crosby, friends and orchestra singing “White Christmas” over and over. I thought it was coming from a radio playing in another room until I eliminated all possibilities of outside input. It went on for days, and I quickly discovered that I could not turn it off or vary the volume. But I could vary the lyrics, speed and harmonies with practice. Since that time I get the music almost daily, usually toward evenings and at times so loud that it interferes with my hearing conversations. The music is always melodies that I am familiar with such as hymns, favorites from years of piano playing and songs from early memories. They always have the lyrics. . . .
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/11 "2013-01-17T19:37:18Z")
I kept hearing a single twang of a stringed instrument, like a guitar or harp.
I was wondering if there was a toy in the attic being played with by a bat or something.
Turned out to be a cell phone I almost never use who’s battery was almost done was warning me.
I didn’t know the thing could make such a clear tone.
But that was one note every two minuets.
So it turned out no bats in my belfry.
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### Author:  [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-hear-piano-in-my-right-ear/647499/12 "2013-01-17T20:22:06Z")
Because the piano won’t fit in your left ear? 😃
Seriously, I’m guessing some form of tinnitus (which I have, although it’s the common cicada-sound variety) or maybe musical ear syndrome, which I’ve never heard of before.
Worth a trip to the doctor anyway if it persists, just in case you’ve got something going on - wax buildup or whatever, that can easily be fixed. It makes sense to rule out the simple causes before assuming it might be something more exotic and scaring yourself.