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27 Jul 2005
A Welsh psychiatrist has claimed that some iPod users are experiencing what he calls "musical hallucinations".
Dr Victor Aziz said that the effect can occur when people spend many hours listening to the same songs. The hallucinations are characterised by a song " playing" constantly in the head, according to the psychiatrist, and the effect has caused sleeping problems for some of his patients.
"People find they can't sleep and can't think properly," he told the Evening Standard. "Having a song in your head every now and then is quite normal, but musical hallucinations can be quite distressing."
Dr Aziz first came across the phenomenon seven years ago when a heart bypass patient named Reginald King was referred to him.
King said that he began hearing pop songs and classical music and has done so every day since. Often one song runs into another rather like listening to tracks on a sound system. Dr Aziz called the experience "musical hallucinations ".
Dr Aziz belongs to a small circle of psychiatrists and neurologists who are investigating this condition. They suspect that the hallucinations experienced by King and others are a result of malfunctioning brain networks that normally allow us to perceive music.
He believes that this condition has existed for centuries but that the use of personal music systems has exacerbated the situation because they provide a stream of music repeated many times.
In the July issue of Psychopathology, Dr Aziz and his colleague Dr Nick Warner published an analysis of 30 cases of 'musical hallucination' over 15 years in South Wales. It is the largest case-series ever published for the phenomenon.
"We were trying to collect as much information about the [patients'] day-to-day lives as we could," Dr Aziz said.
"We were asking a lot of the questions that weren't answered in previous research. What do they hear, for example? Is it nearby or is it at a long distance?"
There is no standard procedure for treating musical hallucinations. Some doctors use antipsychotic drugs, and some use therapy to help patients understand what's going on in their brains.
"Sometimes simple things can be the cure," Dr Aziz said. "Turning on the radio may be more important than giving medication."
Dr Aziz suspects that musical hallucinations will become more common because of increased exposure to music from a variety of media.
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Do you agree?
Don't get this confused with just getting a song stuck in your head
It's very different. Getting a song stuck in your head is normal. It happens to a lot of people every day. Auditory hallucinations are when you actually believe that you are hearing music being played (or voices speaking). I used to hear classical music a lot just playing continuously. Not songs I knew or had heard, just an orchestra playing. This is weird because I spend most of my time listening to rock and I have NEVER heard anything like that before.
Posted by: Gen 12 Nov 2009
come on
They are talking about realistic hallucinations, people, not just that song that's been stuck in you head.
Posted by: George 11 Nov 2009
I'm glad I'm not alone
Wow- how nice to know others cope with this too. I usually get it pretty badly when I am learning a new song and listen to it frequently. Then I hear it all night, and I can't make it stop. It keeps me awake, which is very frustrating. I've tried deep breathing and changing songs and meditation, but nothing seems to help. By the way, I am usually using a CD, not an ipod. I think it is just hearing the music a lot. Anyone have any ideas how to make this stop enough so I can sleep? I'm really tired...
Posted by: Jackie 01 Oct 2009
sound
I get this each moringin when i wake up. There is alwasys a song in my head acutally, but i seem to really notice it when i first wake up. Subsequently I have had 10 mp3 players in the last 3 years, and i got sick of losing them, so I reverted back to my "musical hallucinations" for music. Right now I have "ENGLINSHMAN IN NEW YORK" By Sting in my head.. I thought these halluciantions were a normal thing, that everyone experiences. This artilce seems to suggest it as a NEW occurance, brought on by the new wave of the technology. I guess the more music you hear each day, the more you will hear inside your mind.. I just can;t wait till they can put the MP3 player into my head so I don;t keep losing it! Mikeal Frazer Vancouver, Canada
Posted by: Take5 27 Apr 2006
This happens to me all the time
I have always had this. It helped me to memorize the marching band music when I was in high school. I also study with music playing and when the music plays back in my head, I can easily remember what I was studying.
Posted by: Shelia Carter 04 Apr 2006
Song replays
I am surprised that this phenomenon is just being noticed. It has always happened to me. If I listen to a song a few times it sometimes replays in my head very clearly when I have already turned it off. It is a little creepy because of the clarity of it.
Posted by: Jay 20 Jan 2006
in video games too
I remember a when the video game "Pokemon" came out, my cousin played it a lot, almost every waking hour, and he told me that when he slept he could hear the music, and it seemed to always be in his head. I've also experienced this with a video game, it was a certain song in the game Xenogears, a very emotional song that sounded like a choir in a church singing about they're dead apostle, and whenever I hear that song now it sends me into a very emotional state, close to a trance, but not quite
Posted by: Evan 31 Oct 2005
long time good effects of MH
I have had this since I was 12. In fact, learning to meditate increased it at 17, but I switched to quieter types of music in my head. I don't think there are times without music in my head, night and day, at least fragments. First there was songs, later I learned to play whole Pink Floyd albums in my head while travelling to school. I actuallly think it is a good way to silence the verbal mind when you want to do so.
Posted by: Yanosh 27 Sep 2005
Ludicrous
I almost have to consider this a vulgarity in the face of musical inspiration. People choose to listen to music, as well as how long they listen to it. As far as digitized music being the issue.... not bloody likely. Why? Because to the average users, the brain can't even distinguish the difference between digital and analog music. Like as with most digital images, human senses are not keen enough to tell the difference. Because pixelation is so small, the eyes can't actually make out the image. So, the brain creates a representation of what the image actually is, and assumes the gaps. What we hear on the radio now is digital anymore, so would we not all have some sort of aural disease? Rule the iPod out. I recollect sounds in my dreams. Should I chalk that up as a nocturnal hallucination?
Posted by: GEO 14 Sep 2005
specialist in Germany
my mother in law has that phenomenon "musical hallucinations". We would like to contact a specialist in Germany if you could tell us a Psychiatrist, or a contact in europe. Email or phone is fine Herbert Blesinger Tel.0049-621-72920
Posted by: Herbert Blesinger 06 Sep 2005
i dont get ..
why i-pods? people have used personal stereos for ages! is it purely i-pod owners that experience this? maybe its an obscure side-effect of listening to encoded digital audio?
Posted by: gerad 02 Aug 2005
Hallucination?
Why should something imagined or recollected be considered a "hallucination"?
Posted by: Justin 30 Jul 2005
Wow.
I'd been thinking something similar, when a friend of mine said his favourite song often 'plays' constantly in his head-he listened to this song CONSTANTLY fot about 2 days. Very weird indeed.
Posted by: Joe 28 Jul 2005
oh my god !
I have been facing this problem since my college days but I never knew this was a disorder. I thought it was not enough concentration on studies. Maybe I am having greater control over this problem now. Hopefully this research will find some kind of solution to the ailing people.
Posted by: chiku 28 Jul 2005
iPod and allucinations?
Whatch'a talking about Willis? One of the great things with iPods is that with (now) 60 Gb of disk, your chances of listening to the same song in a lifetime (?) are basically zero. I have a 40Gb, and I upped basically EVERY CD I've ever owned, I can't even remeber what is it that I'm listening to right now, something from high school?
Posted by: Pier 28 Jul 2005
An untrained skill - not a disease.
Part of the treatment should focus on the patient understanding that they are NOT hearing anything, the are Remembering songs they have already heard. Unless they have some sort of brain damage, they should be able to learn to think of a different song, or think of something else, so the memory of the unwanted song stops coming to their attention. Musical or poetic memory is more easily recalled than most other forms of human memory (smell being one exception). Perhaps the patients can use their improved musical memory to learn mathmatical equations, history, or scientific formulas? Their enhanced auditory learning abilities that could prove useful. Meditation techniques will also help them control their memories and silent the inner thoughts while focusing on the act of breathing...calming their brains activity while focusing intention on a single thought or a single action. Also, avoiding stimulants like caffeine in tea, coffee, or soft drinks will also help prevent restlessness. If they are drinking large amounts of coffee they should expect it to have an impact on their sleep and mental state. Too many children have been diagnosed as hyper active when all that was needed was to get them to stop drinking all liquid sugar, caffeinated soft drinks.
Posted by: teacher 28 Jul 2005
Musician's Occupational Hazard
Musicians have had to cope with this for years - most I know, including myself, like having music on in the background because it means we don't have to create it internally ourselves.
Posted by: Muso_rah 28 Jul 2005