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Am I the Only One?

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Edited

No more screeches or humming noises.

I’m happy to say that I am a FORMER tinnitus sufferer thank goodness.

The problem is that Now I HEAR VOICES filling in where the random musical tones used to be.

It’s not what you’re thinking. I’m not crazy, I don’t think there’s a radio in my head.

But everyday without fail I hear SNIPPETS of songs. Since i no longer enjoy listening to music (hearing aids ruin music, it rattles and echoes and reverberates thru my brain), these tunes must be dredged up from decades ago. There has to be some mechanism THAT CHOOSES which tune I hear.

Everyday it’s a new snippet. But I’m clueless who or what decides what the song of the day will be. A lot of times it’s a sad song like today all day it’s been Longgg lonesome river. It starts as soon as my day starts, sometimes before I get out of bed.

Sometimes the tune is unfamiliar so i eventually do a search on you tube. Depending on how accurately I’ve transcribed what I Think I heard, I might figure out the name of the song. Maybe there’s a clogged buffer or cache where all sorts of random tunes get stuck until death wipes the slate and/or our minds clean.

The snippet can be quite detailed. Often it will have a full scale orchestra / soundtrack of the original just as I heard it “whenever”. I don’t recall hearing today’s mournful sound byte, but i must’ve heard it somewhere/sometime.

Sometimes snippets are very emotional/sad songs like the movie GHOST with Demi Moore and (was it Patrick Swayze)? Selections like that can be a real downer affecting my mood the rest of the day.

A very few times it might be something cute like HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGY IN THE WINDOW but that one made me sad; it brought back memories of the sweetest little black dog I had that was taken away from the yard and it wasn’t like her to wander off.

Sometimes it’s just words in a sort of singsong voice made up of just 3 or 4 words. THE VOICE AND THE SINGER ARE ALWAYS MALE.

It must come from me, the choice of song. I used to think it was random but lately I’ve noticed it somehow fits with what’s going on in my life or something I’m ruminating about.

Not sure when it started but I could do without it for sure. In the time it’s taken me to write this I’ve heard it 30 or 40 times.

Some songs really are emotionally devastating.

I just wanted to see if there’s somebody else so tormented really by songs and voices. Surely I’m not unique.

I’m anxious to read responses, hopefully nobody will be held back because it’s so crazy sounding.

22 people in this conversation37 min readJump to latest

Musical hallucinations aren’t as rare as you might think with severe hearing losses, but nonetheless ask your doctor to do a medication review, check for UTI, consider specialist referrals to rule things out.

Then . . . How’d you kick the tinnitus? You may be able to approach managing the music the same way.

Edited

I’m sorry to hear what happened to you. Recently (thanks to my wife), I watched a very engrossing and far-out (totally fictional) story about a Scotch girl who wants to be a country-and-western singer. I was surprised in the credits to see that the actress Mary Steenburgen actually got song writing credits for a couple of songs, I think, in the movie. It turns out the back story to that is that she had a minor operation years ago and when she woke up from the anesthesia, everything turned into music in her world. So, somehow, she started to make lemonade out of lemons and has since been involved in writing a number of songs. I don’t know if you find any of the songs you hear worthwhile but perhaps just as for Steenburgen, if you can’t get the music to go away, maybe there is some possibility of making something positive out of it. A lot of hit songs have a tragic lilt. McArthur Park is a pretty depressing song but it’s one of my favorites, for example. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay is another “downer” song that was a big hit a long time ago.

Mary Steenburgen - Wikipedia6 Her music career.

Relative to the film I mentioned, one could say the movie Wild Rose is a pretty disgusting movie. You think you see where it’s heading but at every turn, it takes a new and unexpected direction and from a downtrodden and trashy beginning manages to end on a very upbeat note about life. In terms of emotional tone and journey, I’d say it’s akin to the journey the protagonist takes in The Sound of Metal, except it ends on a far more uplifting tone. It’s a movie about trying to escape the reality of what you are now in the pursuit of your vision of what you’d like to be.

Edit_Update: Getting back to music that you can’t get out of your head, there is a well-known phenomenon call “ear worm.” Earworm - Wikipedia7 At the height of Neil Diamond’s musical career, Newsweek magazine ran a cover story on him. Diamond claimed that his musical career was spurred on by getting ear worms, IIRC. A piece of music would pop into his head, and he couldn’t get it out of his system, so to speak, until he had written a song based on the music that he heard. So, Diamond would be an even more dramatic example than Steenburgen that having music pop into your head can sometime lead to very positive outcomes.

The Wikipedia Ear Worm article has a section on possible antidotes. Maybe some of those would help you manage the music? Earworm - Wikipedia5 Antidotes

In reply to @Neville

The answer, I think, is that the tinnutis was overwritten by the musical snippet.

I wonder why snippets are so abbreviated. As long as you’ve got the orchestra in place and tuned up, why not expand the snippet to last a little longer I wonder?

Edited

In reply to @jim_lewis

That would be a good deal if i could flip them into a profitable venture.

Interesting, I always got a peaceful relaxed sort of mood from Sitting on the Dock of the Bay but maybe its the words that give it a sad twist? Ive heard DOCK many times but I don’t think I ever quite got the lyrics.

Thanks for that awesome musical repertoire Steenburgen has racked up.

Ewe! Just that word being used in context of WORMS and EARS gives me chills. I guess because I guess its true that cockroaches invade peoples’ ears.

But thanks that’s an interesting article i want to read again.

See the Wikipedia article that I added to my first post in this thread on antidotes to ear worms. That might help you. All the best! (ear worms are usually very brief according to the article). It also mentions that damage to the temporal lobe can cause auditory hallucinations that might be confused with ear worms and might require medical diagnosis to distinguish between the two possibilities.

How much is that doggy in the window. The one with the waggedy tail. How much is that doggy in the window. I do hope that doggys for sale. Sorry. Showing my age.

In reply to @kcsummerkc

@kcsummerkc said:

I wonder why snippets are so abbreviated. As long as you’ve got the orchestra in place and tuned up, why not expand the snippet to last a little longer I wonder?

Yes, this would certainly be nicer. You could go through all of Beethoven’s symphonies that way and have a rather nice day of it.

I don’t think we really know, but my semi-educated guess would be that the brain is trying its best to make sense of some disordered neural firing in the damaged auditory system by dredging up old bits of music that seem sort of similar. But the little bit of neural misfire really doesn’t match the entire song–it probably doesn’t even really match the snippet, the snippet is just the closest thing the brain can come up with to supply meaning to this semi-random signal that it is finding where there shouldn’t be one.

Musical hallucinations tend to be songs that are familiar or catchy–the sorts of music bits that would have pretty strong neural representations in the brain because of degree of repetition earlier in life. Alternatively, they are music-ish. That is, the person may not be able to name the exact piece but will say “it’s like a choir is singing”–the brain interprets the signal as music, but does not always match it to something specific. The music can come with a sense of speech, but typically not with resolvable words/phrases. Like tinnitus, they can be more noticeable in quiet and at night, which means that in many of the cases I’ve seen (which have granted been few) the individual has complained about their neighbours making noise/playing music in the night prior to realizing it’s actually in their ears.

But really do have UTI ruled out. Sometimes musical hallucinations can be the only symptom of a bladder infection. Though, if the music stops the tinnitus may return, which is not a reason not to have a medical issue addressed, just a heads-up to manage your expectations about the tinnitus releif so that you’re not blind-sided when it comes back.

I agree symphonies are great and hearing one in total would be a rewarding break from monotony.

I’ve had enough UTIs to know one when i have one. In fact i quit getting them about the same time i decided to forego ill-advised liaisons with the opposite sex and I’m better off for it. They always turn out to be sort of female-hating narcissistic control freak anyway. ; ))

Edited

So sorry for your difficulties. This is interesting and sounds like an annoying problem. I haven’t heard music, but there was a brief period many years ago (before wearing hearing aids) that I would hear a crashing sound mostly right before falling asleep. I would think there was a car crash outside and go look outside. It turned out to be tension and stress in my floor nursing career working long, intense, and difficult hrs in the hospital for about 16 years. Then I took a desk nursing job and it stopped, but I had a nagging boss voice until I retired :slight_smile: I have tinnitus but that was never related. I hope you find a solution.
I too remember “How much is that doggie in the window”, it was a female named Patti Page that sang the version I know. I now seem to have that ear worm! “The one with the waggily tail”, “arf arf”. Tee Hee Hee :stuck_out_tongue:

For the last 3 dayd my waking hours I have heard the same ma!e voice as all the others singing solo in a very soft, sad dejected voice and tone this exactly

" Does anybody believe in me?"

All day everyday. When i had a visitor the lament was still audible. And would sometimes start mid-sentence.
This has to come from inside me but if so how can it begin precisely when visitor and i are suddenly silent. How could i possibly be so astute as to pull this off so seemlessly.

I recognize his voice by now.

I dont understand how this is possible unless im lying or crazy and i am neither one of those things.

This tablet would eventually drive anybody crazy i have to type each word 3_or 4 times. Got to get sleep

I feel very sad for whoever sings this lament for 3 days.

If its me as i said earlier how is it logistically possible?

I haven’t kept up with the latest in neuroscience but quite a while ago, I read that there are quite a few different unconscious activities in our brains and our consciousness is just the overseer and perhaps not even the official director of such activities. So, the self-aware concept that there’s just “me” is a clever illusion created by the brain. And one article that I read a long time ago, (not implying this has anything to do with your situation), said that people who say they can hear voices talking to them (their consciousness) are probably, accidentally, closer to the truth of how our brains operate than “normal” people with the illusion of only a single process called consciousness going on in their brains. The following is a link to a 2018 Newsweek article giving a popular account of how the unconscious may really drive our existence. If anyone wants a bunch of other related Internet articles, try searching on “how does consciousness relate to the unconscious activities of our brains.” That’s how I found the Newsweek article.

Consciousness Could Simply Be a Product of Our Unconscious Brain. What Does That Mean for Us? (newsweek.com)4

And then there is this hot-off-the-press popular account of someone’s latest theory as to the relative balance of consciousness vs. unconsciousness in actually doing anything. The claim is that our conscience self is just sort of a reporter and memory bank for unconscious thoughts driving our existence. I think that we’re probably at least 100 years too early to know the truth of exactly how the human brain’s complexity works.

Is consciousness an illusion? New theory claims the unconscious brain makes all decisions (studyfinds.org)1

Edited

That’s an interesting, thought-provoking article thank you for posting it.

I’ve done some searching online the past week or so and and schizophrenic keeps popping up. I don’t FEEL schizophrenic? Have to read this article a few times, its ‘DEEP’.

If your unconscious is in charge then we could argue its not OUR FAULT if we YELLED something stupid at a co-worker. Kids would have a blast with this GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD. Mom, “I didn’t lie, my subconscious did”.

Will have to consider, could this explain why whatever this guy says so often matches my mood. Must think about this in light of the messages I hear from the same male voice so often that I have come to recognize his voice (and would detect an imposter instantly). At first I used to think it was just the voice I heard on you-tube.

I remember the last song that played in my head a long time. I don’t remember the name of the song but I think its from the 60s? “Don’t give up girl, we got a lot, a lot of love between us. Hang on hang on to what we got.” How MIGHT this be my unconscious mind encouraging me not to give up, not to a girlfriend, but to the son I I’ve been thinking is gone from my life. lost connection with". I don’t think I ever heard a song that would fit exactly - a male voice singing an “ode” to his mother so I guess he or me might have to improvise.

Catabrat Glad it stopped for you before it became “habituated” with you. What if this person/voice becomes permanent FOREVER? What if its going to be taking up space in my head. Sometimes it drives me crazy but sometimes I have actually felt empathy with “the voice”.

I’ve started A JOURNAL for what the latest saying or song is. I have been hearing this voice, I guess, at least since last summer. SUMMER last or even 2 years ago. But it has evolved since then.
But I know it was summer because I was showering off after a long day mowing and working in my garden and hearing it. It wasn’t familiar then like it feels now. Not sure exactly when this happened. I think in the beginning it was just an annoying 3 or 4 notes in a pattern that ended up encamped in my head for a long long time. Just meaningless short string of notes in dots/short and dashes/longer pattern like a telegraph? I ended up saying, whether I wanted to or not, these patterns and I felt like "I just want to sit and unwind but if I do I will hear those dots and dashes again. I resented it very much making it impossible to just sit in my garden and let my my wander.

I thought about how I could describe this voice “sing song” pattern. I don’t listen to radio or music CDs anymore its just not the same. But I wanted to describe SOMETHING about it that someone would have an “aha” moment. If I keep going they will start thinking I’m daft.

But it makes sense that my inner self would try to fill the void, the silence in my house. No one but me and my dogs and a you-tube video now and then. I think it makes sense that it has something to do with being practically deaf, no sounds in my life so that my mind would create them.

It might be a good idea to get a medical diagnosis as to what might be causing your music problem. Since it’s almost like a form of tinnitus, maybe also something like cognitive behavioral therapy would help you deal with it. Somewhere on the forum, there’s the tale of Wiliam Shatner of Star Trek fame. During the filming of a Star Trek episode, he was standing very close to a special effects explosive device when it was accidentally discharged. The result was he got tinnitus so bad that he was depressed and contemplated suicide for a long time. I think it was through cognitive behavioral therapy that he learned to just ignore the tinnitus and go on with life in spite of it. So, maybe as bad as it seems now, you can find a cause that can be taken care of or a way like Shatner did to deal with a serious unwanted noise in your head.

Edited

Maybe I should consult someone - but who, what’s the word for a doctor that studies the brain and its workings. But what if I awaken a sort of sleeping giant something that then won’t leave me alone. Medicare Advantage can be a real intrusive pest calling on the phone and emails about getting a home checkup.

Actually now that I think back on it, one of the first things I noticed was during Fall or Winter - colder weather because I had the furnace running. And I remember this DRONE voice going on and on with mindless banter like they do on sports game just to avoid dead air. There’s a high school behind my house and they hold football games and I thought maybe its from there but the school was deserted. Couldn’t interpret one word of it the mindless chatter of a sportscaster nattering on.

But I finally figured it out, its the air being blasted from the furnace. I remember being worried because it came and went - could be a month in between. I forget how I figured out it was the air from furnace vents that seemed to me to have a pattern like radio chatter. I had forgotten for awhile about the air vents. I actually did think once or twice about government overreach, suppose they planted something in one of my aids. But I KNOW NOTHING so I don’t think they’d spend anytime like that on me.

I’m realizing just now how many different things there are that don’t talk but make words anyway. Like I used to feed some abandoned kittens a block or so away and I went everyday. And on the way there are pack of beagle dogs or some kind of hunting dog. And they have a funny bark. And many times walking home the dogs barks came together to say “Go back go back go back”. I knew it was the dogs but their peculiar bark turns into words. I want to find someone and hopefully hear the same repeated dogs barking and see if they hear it too. GO BACK GO BACK GO BACK. One of the dogs bark is the GO and the other finishes it off with BACK.

Now all that sounds a little strange to me but its just I’ve been thinking back when the JUST NOISE in my head started changing becoming words sometimes.

Actually, Jim Lewis, I’ve started to accept that this is going to be a part of my life until I get good hearing aids. HOPEFULLY I WILL SOMEDAY GET them and I think thats the most likely cure. I think my mind is trying to fill in all the dead air space that my deafness leaves behind. You know how air rushes to fill a void but I think that’s from a bomb. This dead air space is just my subconscious mind attempting to quell the silence. The silence can be sometimes a noise of its own. Its not quiet though, it creates its own unique noise - which is what the mindless sports banter is just NOISE where there is none.

@kcsummerkc said:

Maybe I should consult someone - but who, what’s the word for a doctor that studies the brain and its workings.

A neurologist.

Family physician for a medication review and to rule out infection, then neurologist.

Infection of what. If you mean to get U.A. I dont have one but ive had enough to recognize if i did. Plus i fail to see any connection otherwise youd need a U.A about 1 time a month on average.

Thanks. Neurologist is the word that i knew but not well enough to remember it.

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