Thread: I hear music that isn't there?

This hasn't happened in a very long time but tonight I thought I could hear very faint music that sounded a little bit like Enya. I thought that it was weird, and I listend to my radios and put my ear to the window screen-nothing. It faded in and out, if I walked towards it it dissipated. If I steppedback I could faintly hear it agian. I also heard what sounded like people talking but so low I couldn't understand them, and it was a snippit of the conversation- it wasn't right there either- it almost seems like I hear an old radio that comes and goes, sometimes the music and sometimes the low voices. I can pick out a word once in a while when it was happening. Tonight I couldn't. I thought this was a hallusination brough on by using speed, because I would have these episodes along with tinnitus really bad. However I haven't used anything for three yrs. I am healthy as can be, no mental problems I am aware of. It seems to happen if I am tired but over stimulated with caffine. Does anyone know what I am talking about? I don't get many responces to my posts but I would really appriciate any help with this, as I feel conserned about it.

Hey Roseburg,

It sounds like your having an audio hypnagogia while your awake. This happens to me sometimes when I'm deep in concentration with either drawing or sculpting. Is it really quiet (in reality) when it happens? You should try laying down and listening in to these sounds while falling asleep - it could bring on a nice WILD

Hope this helps!

It's just auditory hallucination...nothing to do with hypnagogia. You don't have hypnagogia when you're awake. When you're awake...it's just a hallucination. This is extremely common when you are tired, sleep deprived, and most often...as you've learned from experience...a result of stimulants. Namely amphetamines...but if you take too much caffeine...same thing. Moved from Beyond Dreaming.

Ok, that's interesting, I guess while I m wide awake and well rested un the day time in deep concentration while sculpting and I get hypnagogia, it s not really. hypnagogia, even though it is exactly the same as the hypnagogia that I get when falling asleep, I guess it must be just some audio hallucination that just happens to be exactly the same as my hypnagogia, or maybe it s that my hypnagogia is like my daytime audio hallucinations, so maybe I don t even have hypnagogia, there just hallucinations...

Originally Posted by floatinghead

Ok, that's interesting, I guess while I m wide awake and well rested un the day time in deep concentration while sculpting and I get hypnagogia, it s not really. hypnagogia, even though it is exactly the same as the hypnagogia that I get when falling asleep, I guess it must be just some audio hallucination that just happens to be exactly the same as my hypnagogia, or maybe it s that my hypnagogia is like my daytime audio hallucinations, so maybe I don t even have hypnagogia, there just hallucinations...

I hope this helps to clarify a bit for you...

Gurstelle and Oliveira distinguish a state which they call daytime parahypnagogia (DPH), the spontaneous intrusion of a flash image or dreamlike thought or insight into one's waking consciousness. DPH is typically encountered when one is "tired, bored, suffering from attention fatigue, and/or engaged in a passive activity." The exact nature of the episode may be forgotten even though the individual remembers having had such an experience.[57] Gustelle and Oliveira define DPH as "dissociative, trance-like, [...] but, unlike a daydream, [...] not self-directed"—however, daydreams and waking reveries are often characterised as "passive", "effortless",[58] and "spontaneous",[16] while hypnagogia itself can sometimes be influenced by a form of autosuggestion, or "passive concentration",[59] so these sorts of episode may in fact constitute a continuum between directed fantasy and the more spontaneous varieties of hypnagogia. Others have emphasized the connections between fantasy, daydreaming, dreams and hypnosis.[60]

Perhaps a broader category of 'hypnagoid experience' should be considered, covering true hypnagogic imagery as well as subjectively similar imagery produced in other states."[70]

I agree with the above quote...it would be more like a "hypnagoid experience" ...similar to hypnagogia but during wakefulness. Technically, hypnagogia refers only to this state while entering sleep. So to say you are experiencing hypnagogia during the day while you are sculpting would not be correct. You are more likely experiencing DPH (Daytime Parahypnagogia).

Does that help?

Hey - thats actually very helpful - I've never heard of the term daytime parahypnagogia before but it seems to fit the bill pretty accurately, many thanks

I often listen to the music to make me fall asleep, is that good ?

I do that allot as well I particularly like it when a made up song runs in my head and I can hear the singing and all of the instruments as if it was a real song!!

I've been wondering lately if this is something happening to me. I don't use speed, but I do use alcohol some what regularly. Tonight I caught myself hearing repeating sounds just as I have in the past. But tonight, I found myself tapping along with it above my head while sleeping. I knew each time I went to sleep that I was asleep, but it felt like I was floating over people I work with and although I could talk to them and them to me, I told them I wasn't really there, I was still asleep. A fact no one seemed interested in to my surprise. Sometimes it's been very quiet voices as the original poster mentioned. Sometimes someone tries showing me something written down, but no matter how close I get or how hard I try, I can't read it or the numbers or message changes.

Each time I woke up and tried to go back to sleep and each time I was laying down staring at the same strange computer panel. Just before I went back to sleep at around 5am I could hear distinct repetition of sounds that after maybe an hour or so would change to a different pattern. I looked everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE for the source but had no luck. It was very faint and at times barely noticeable.

I don't really know anything about dreams but saw this website and thought I'd bring it up in a thread with a similar question. I read about lucid dreaming a little, but this may be the reason my health has been suffering lately. I think I may have developed a really bad inner ear infection because of it. The pain would increase exponentially some days and I could barely talk due to the glands in my neck swelling so bad that everytime I swallowed even a small amount of water the pain was unbearable in my throat and inner ear. It's cause me to even become nautious the past couple of days. Any suggestions???

Ok .. as a teen ..I would hear music that wasn't there but the wierd thing is ..I would learn the lyrics that I otherwise did not know. Can anyone explain that ??

Thank You everybody for your answers, I have been gone for a while but I really enjoyed reading these. The music hasn't comeback, and I wonder if it was in my mind though it sounded so real. @ Omicron anytype of substance abuse related activity seemed to make those experiances happen with more frequency. I think I had drank alcohol heavily about 2 days before I heard the music. However tinight I thought I heard a man's voice and I haven't touched anything for months. I just don't want to find out I am schitzoid and this is going to get worse.

Hi,
About three years ago I was hearing music from an external source that didnt exist, (not like hearing music in your mind like when a song gets stuck in your head). It happened out of the blue while I was fully functioning speaking even, when doing a university presentation, on the subway etc. It started once a day and then eventually happened 10-20 times a day. It was very frightening I had no other physical symptoms and I couldnt find any info on the internet relating to my hearing music that wasnt there. Doctors said it was brought on by stress, that I should do yoga but I knew it was something different, something wasnt right. Finally I found a doctor who sent me to a psychiatrist who sent me to do a CT scan. It turns out that those ephisodes of hearing music were actually musical seisures which are extremely extremely rare and the scan showed that I had a brain tumor. I dont mean to scare you, I am fine now completely heathy but my advice is to listen to your body if you think you know something is wrong find a good doctor that will do everything to help you including psychological tests and a CT scan just to be safe, it cant hurt right? wish you all the best.

hi, glad you solved the problem, but I need to ask you, did you hear the sounds or music clearly or faintly?

Huh. I used to get that all the time. The music and the voices. The music was nice, but I could never tell what the voices were saying, there were lots of them talking over each other, and it was very faint/quiet. Haven't had it for many years (>10). Pretty sure I don't have a tumor though.

I get this every now and then, after I've woken up and am lying around, waiting to get up. I know I'm awake, not really sleepy, just wondering where it's coming from. It sounds really faint, and like it's static between 2 radio stations. I'll hear a bit from one station, then it statics into the other. It's so faint that it's barely indistinguishable from other noises, until I can clearly hear the music. I think there's probably something in my house that's got enough metal and reach that it's acting like a quasi antennae, picking up some in-between AM frequencies.

That or some of my old silver fillings are doing it (jk, but I did hear about that somewhere once)

Though I don't have a tumor (or haven't checked, anyway, which for me is the same thing), I get that too. Not so much during waking-life days (though it has happened, and though it's not the same I'm constantly summoning songs in my head), but very much during those moments of drifting between sleep and dreams.

Funny thing, it just happened this morning. I was hearing an old torch song (can't remember what it was, now, dammit), and enjoying it enough that when I went to dreamland I was at a crowded party where the song was playing -- and the host immediately shut it off! I hollered at the host, and showed him how upset his guests were, and even pointed out that the dream would've been much better if he hadn't done that. When he sheepishly said he'd turn it back on I said, "Too late now; I can't even remember what the song was!".

I'm rambling, sorry. I think my point was supposed to be that music plays an integral, almost sublime role in our conscious activities. Indeed, its ability to construct metaphor and tap emotion without need for words or thought makes it a valuable tool for, well, any mental activity. So yeah, when you're drifting around in that place between dreams and reality, welcome music -- it might be helping. But, apparently, if it happens a lot during the day, you might want to get your head examined!

[P.S. Since OpheliaBlue necroed first, I figured it was okay to do the same ]

Originally Posted by Sageous

[P.S. Since OpheliaBlue necroed first, I figured it was okay to do the same ]

Well, someone else necroed first, but I'll have a talk with OpheliaBlue regardless.

Funny thing is, I frequently hear talk radio and music as I go to bed. I don't think I'm falling asleep when I hear it. I'm leaning towards the sound being mashed up sounds or distand air conditioning units, street traffic and such. But I'll be darned. It sure sounds like a talk show host talking and music playing. I get all different kinds of music - latin, jazz, pop, you name it. The melody is so distinct, that if I had at least an ounce of musical talent in me, I could be writing music from what I hear.

Yeah meldi did it meldi did it!!

Actually if it took off again, I was either gonna leave it or split it into a new one. Because it is kinda interesting. I'm almost inclined to think that what I'm hearing is just patterns in the white noise of my fan. Kinda like seeing images in tv snow. But idk. It's almost time for my routine checkup anyway.

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

I'm almost inclined to think that what I'm hearing is just patterns in the white noise of my fan. Kinda like seeing images in tv snow.

Sounds probable. I used to sleep with a sound machine when I was little and I would sometimes hear repeated phrases. It actually scared me once.

Also, some of you might be dealing with high electromagnetic fields. They are known to cause hallucinations (I thank Ghost Hunters for teaching me that). You might wanna call an electrician.

^^ These are good points, and I too hear subtle voices or music (dixieland jazz, oddly) creeping from my fan and white noise machine. But I think Meldi was talking about hearing music "playing" all by itself, whether white noise was present or not.

Seems a silly distinction, but music manufactured by our minds might carry a different portent (did I really just write that word?) than outside noise defined by our minds as music. Just sayin'!

i've had this too! really faint beautiful piano music. but i got distracted and it was gone

Some of these old threads are so cool.

I hear music where there is none too sometimes - When I recognize that there is no actual music and that it's a hallucination, I can take control of it. The first time it happened, I was taking a shower and I thought it was just an acid flashback. I heard a really loud tone that was constant and sharp. It was very clear and realistic, just like it is when falling asleep. I noticed that it changed when I imagined it changing, so I started adding instruments (violins, cellos, some horns, a little piano, then some flutes and clarinets). This was fantastic for me because I've been composing music since I was 8. I ended up creating a four movement symphony that I could actually hear while in the shower. It was a wonderful experience.

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

Some of these old threads are so cool.

I hear music where there is none too sometimes - When I recognize that there is no actual music and that it's a hallucination, I can take control of it. The first time it happened, I was taking a shower and I thought it was just an acid flashback.

LOL

I heard a really loud tone that was constant and sharp. It was very clear and realistic, just like it is when falling asleep. I noticed that it changed when I imagined it changing, so I started adding instruments (violins, cellos, some horns, a little piano, then some flutes and clarinets). This was fantastic for me because I've been composing music since I was 8. I ended up creating a four movement symphony that I could actually hear while in the shower. It was a wonderful experience.

That's amazing. I actually did something very similar, but it was at the end of a lucid dream. I could control where the symphony went just by thinking it, and it sounded like a kick ass movie soundtrack. But the moment I woke up, it was gone. And I don't have the composition skills to dictate any of it anyway, alas.

Whenever I start going asleep, I always hear faint music (Normally, it's whatever I listened to that day). I'll change the music to something else, and just toy around with it. Also would hear it whenever highly focused on something.

All the stories in here are really neat - I'll have to give the whole "organize a symphony" thing a shot.

Used to get these a lot too, mostly mine were triggered from white noise or being in an airplane or in a car and I can tune the humming noise to any note. Mostly orchestra or piano. Sometimes laying down it would happen, very faint but nice to sleep to. Very nice to read others stories. I thought I was the only one too when I tried to describe to my friends I got some crazy looks lol.