{"id":2640,"date":"2021-10-21T21:28:55","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T01:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/?p=2640"},"modified":"2021-10-21T21:28:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T01:28:57","slug":"the-beat-of-your-own-drum-musical-hallucinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/the-beat-of-your-own-drum-musical-hallucinations\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beat of Your Own Drum: Musical Hallucinations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine going through the day feeling like you were at a concert at the Georgia Theatre<\/a>, but no one else besides you could hear it. Even the most ardent of music lovers might be disturbed if that happened to them. While it may sound odd, this is actually a relatively common condition for people experiencing hearing loss<\/a>. It\u2019s called musical ear syndrome (MES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Musical Ear Syndrome? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Music<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Musical ear syndrome is a condition where people with hearing loss experience musical hallucinations. They can be in the form of pop music, symphonies, radio broadcasts and even Christmas carols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case<\/a> of one 87-year-old woman with bilateral hearing loss, she complained for a month that she could hear a concert playing that no one else could hear. Originally believing the music to be coming from next door, when the noise became persistent and she realized no one else in her family could hear it, she sought medical attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a Mental Health Condition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

People often associate hallucinations with mental illness, however, that is not the case with MES. The musical hallucinations experienced are non-psychiatric in nature. As opposed to psychiatric-related hallucinations, MES is more like tinnitus, which is a persistent ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ear. According to recent statistics<\/a>, roughly 10% (25 million) of Americans have experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cause of MES<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The exact cause of MES is unknown, though risk factors include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n