Music In My Ears Or Is It All In My Head? Part 1

By Stacey Samuels-Cole, AuD

Hearing Professionals Inc.

. http://www.hearing-professionals.com/

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Music In My Ears Or Is It All In My Head? Part 1

“My wife hears music that is not there,” Harry writes. “The first song she heard was Silent Night sung by a very good choir of mostly men. It came in quite loud. A day later it was the Vienna Waltz over and over again so clear it was like being at a musical production.”

“I would often lie half awake in the quietness of the early morning and hear a phantom radio,” Dick recalls. “A guy would be talking like they did in the 50s. Kind of a monotone voice and all the advertisements like they did back then. It always sounded so real.”

These statements provide a true illustration of the many experiences of Musical Ear Syndrome patients that have been reported over the years.

Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) describes a condition seen in people who have hearing loss and subsequently develop auditory hallucinations. It is comparable to Charles Bonnet syndrome (visual hallucinations in visually impaired people). The occurrence of MES has been suggested to be very high among the hearing impaired. Sufferers typically hear music or singing and the condition is more common in women. The hallucinatory experiences differ in phenomenology from that commonly experienced in psychotic disorders although there may be some overlap. The most important distinction is the realization that the hallucinations are not real. Delusional beliefs associated with the hallucinations may occur, but some degree of insight should be preserved. There should not be any other psychotic symptoms present, especially hallucinations in other modalities. There should be an absence of serious mental illness, although mild cognitive impairment is often associated with MES.

Symptoms

Musical Ear syndrome (MES) is comprised of a number of symptoms, which, when taken together, form a syndrome. Typically, but not always, there is a constellation of five symptoms that seem to predispose people to hearing such phantom sounds.

1. Often the person is elderly.

2. Generally, the person is hard of hearing.

3. Often the person lacks adequate auditory stimulation.

4. Almost always the person has tinnitus.

5. Often the person is anxious, stressed or depressed.

A person does not have to exhibit all five symptoms in order to have Musical Ear syndrome, but many people with MES exhibit three or more of the above symptoms. For as yet unknown reasons, there are people that prove to be exceptions to this rule. Perhaps, in the future, researchers will discover why.

Next month's article will discuss the causes of MES and how it can be controlled.