Over the past ten years, doctors have discovered that non-psychiatric auditory hallucinations are surprisingly common in people with hearing loss. They have dubbed the phenomenon Musical Ear Syndrome, or MES. Most of these hallucinations take on the form of music, although people have reported hallucinating voices, too. The hallucinations can be clear as a bell, or indistinct and muffled.
Hearing phantom voices or music can cause no small amount of anxiety and distress; many people who suffer from MES worry their symptoms are indicative of an emerging psychiatric disorder. Nothing could be further from the truth. Though it’s hard to get an exact count of how many people experience this little-known phenomenon, between 10 and 30 percent of audiology patients experience some form of non-psychiatric auditory hallucination.
What Sounds Do MES Sufferers Hear?
Music is the most common auditory hallucination MES sufferers hear, hence the condition’s name. Patriotic and religious music are the most common types. Fifty-two percent of people with MES report hearing Christmas carols or hymns or patriotic songs like “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Oh Canada” or “God Save the Queen.” Interestingly, sufferers report hearing their own nation’s patriotic songs, not other nations’, and those who hear Christmas carols tend to do so only seasonally.
Sufferers typically report the music they hear is beautiful. In fact, “sufferers” may be the wrong term, since some people with MES actually enjoy the music, once they realize that it’s not a symptom of mental illness.
In addition to music, MES sufferers also hear voices. One man reported hearing a phantom radio station, complete with advertisements. Others have heard sounds of phantom construction going on outside, phantom intruders or phantom vehicles.
What Causes MES?
Some researchers believe that MES occurs due to a lack of auditory stimulation that can occur with hearing loss, although a minority of people who report MES symptoms do not have hearing loss. If you have some hearing loss, you might be able to prevent or diminish the effects of MES with hearing aids from popular providers like Total Hearing Care.
A 2006 Chilean study found that MES hallucinations in patients with hearing loss in both ears caused brain activity consistent with a response to actual sound. “When an individual has abrupt bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, stored musical memory can be released and this person can have musical perceptions without an external source. It is likely that an abrupt bilateral loss of inner ear function might uninhibit neuronal groups storing auditory memory,” the researchers hypothesized. Other researchers have speculated that people with MES hear music that is meaningful to them, while others believe MES sufferers may be hearing the music they’re most familiar with.
How to Tell the Difference Between MES and Psychiatric Hallucinations
Since many people who develop MES symptoms worry that these symptoms are psychiatric in nature, it’s important to know how to tell the difference. There are two key differences between MES symptoms and psychiatric hallucinations.
Firstly, people with psychiatric hallucinations most often hear voices speaking directly to them, not music. While people with MES do sometimes hear voices, these voices are often indistinct and more reminiscent of a television program or radio play.
Secondly, people suffering mental illness hear voices that speak to or about them; the content of their hallucinations concerns them personally and affects them emotionally. The voices may even address the person and try to engage him or her in conversation.
When people with MES hear voices, those voices do not try to talk to them, talk about them or have conversations with them. Unlike people with psychiatric problems, people with MES usually figure out that their hallucinations aren’t real, with the exception of some very elderly MES patients.
Coping with MES
If you develop MES symptoms, there’s a chance you could be suffering from a brain abnormality and it’s a good idea to get checked out for neurological problems. Anxiety and depression may also exacerbate MES, and some people find that their symptoms abate with treatment for these conditions. Prescription drugs can also cause MES symptoms, so you should speak to your physician to rule out this possibility.
Otherwise, there’s not much you can do about MES. Most sufferers find that they can ignore the sounds once they are able to determine that they aren’t real. If you’re not sure whether a sound you are hearing is real or not, block your ears — if it remains clear, it’s all in your head. Neil Bauman, PhD, a pioneer in MES research and treatment, recommends patients enrich their environments with real sounds and work on increasing social interaction, both of which can offer the auditory stimulation the brain craves.
If you hear phantom music or voices and you’re hard of hearing, you could be experiencing MES. Though researchers aren’t sure what causes these auditory hallucinations, they’re nothing to worry about. In fact, many sufferers come to enjoy them.
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