What I should do about auditory "hallucinations"
What I should do about auditory "hallucinations"
I'm trying to figure out what's happening to me and I'm not sure where to look.
For the last several years, whenever I listen to silence-filling noise (white, brown, pink, etc.) I tend to hear additional sounds. It's like having your radio tuned to a MHz that's just off a tiny bit, so you hear static but there's just a slight edge of voices or something that you can't quite make out but is definitely there. Sometimes, instead of voices, it's also patterns in the noise or various pitches.
It happens in a variety of situations, like Youtube videos, audio tracks from meditation apps and noise generators, and even devices that have no audio input or antenna and are specifically for noise as you'd find in the waiting room of a massage clinic. It even happens when it's a completely benign source like an air fan. And the sounds I hear match the volume of the source.
Do I have superpowers? A brain tumor? Am I just sensitive to imperfect wave form generation? Am I part-dog? Have I done damage to myself from listening to Metallica way too loud for too many years?
Where do I start looking into this? Does anyone have any possible explanations for what I'm experiencing that might lead me in the right direction?
It is called Auditory Pareidoilia.
Everyone is telling you that you are schizophrenic and it is very sad because they are absolutely wrong.
It is normal and common to hear additional sounds that don’t exist in white noise.
Read about it here:
https://www.tmsoft.com/blog/why-you-may-be-hearing-phantom-sounds/amp/
https://thedebrief.org/auditory-pareidolia-the-voices-in-your-head-may-have-a-rational-explanation/
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Never forget that we're doing incredibly complex audio signal processing with meat.
It's fatty jello that we electrified and tricked into believing in itself!
It is a totally normal function of a totally normal brain. What is NOT normal is for it to drastically change in adulthood. That could suggest a change to the part of the brain responsible which should be checked out.
If you read the post carefully you’d see that OP says they have had this for several years. It is in the first sentence of the second paragraph.
Can confirm I have this with White Noise, especially when i combine it with another ambient sound, thought I was going crazy when I started sleeping with an air purifier in my room till i realized what was going on.
Yeah. Still see a doctor, because it's new, but I'm guessing the doctor will just say "huh, keep an eye on that".
Schizophrenia can have early warning signs, but going there right away has "it's always cancer" energy.
See a doctor. Do it now. Not later. Nobody here will give you accurate medical advice. The underlying causes are diverse. You will not receive worthwhile medical advice without a proper diagnosis.
I would add that advising OP is the importance of seeing a doctor is also medical advice, subject to the same caveat about accuracy. A group of people telling them to see a doctor urgently could induce a harmful level of fear or anxiety. Anxiety is not warranted in this case, given that OP described the normal experience of auditory pareidolia to a T.
You should go see a psychiatrist if you can. This definitely sounds like early schizophrenia and a lot of people ignore the early signs before it’s too late. With medications a normal life is possible so don’t worry. But let a psychiatrist make the actual diagnosis
This is not schizophrenia. It is a common occurrence and a type of tinnitus.
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Yeah this is why a real psychiatrist should diagnose it to make sure, better to see a doc and not lemmy
This was my first thought, too.
Every medical question on social media ever:
American: I have this problem
Response: Have you seen a doctor?
American: No.
Response: Why not?
American: I can't afford it.
I tried to make an appointment with a PCP in my area yesterday. The next open slot they had was March...of 2025.
It's impossible to tell if that's an indictment of the people's attitude or the "healthcare" system. Probably both. This country sucks rotten ass sometimes.
It’s an indictment of of the health system.
You need to be an idiot to avoid the doctor in a country with socialized healthcare. In a country without, you just need to be cautious.
Hey there. I experience the same thing. The voices, the music, in the white noises around me.
I'm not schizophrenic (or at least I hope not). It is a weird phenomenon that some of us experience that seems to be our brains trying to match important patterns, like speech, out of noise.
Heck, Devin Townsend even wrote a song about it "Voices in the Fan."
If it's really bothering you or scaring you then, yeah, you could seek help, but if you're not experiencing auditory hallucinations outside of this context then my completely unqualified opinion is you're probably fine.
It’s this:
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
People in this thread think they are psychiatrists.
Thanks for finding this.
Hevy Devy +1
If it's changing, you might want to get a brain-scan, immediately.
No, it isn't normal ( not for me, anyhow ), to the guy who said it is normal.
It's not an ear thing, it is an auditory-processing thing, so it's your brain that's doing it.
The question is why it is doing it.
Perhaps it's just fuzzy wiring, as most such cases likely are.
( synaesthesia is a case of weird wiring, and I've got that, but not in the normal way, not senses blurring into each-other, but rather my non-visual cognition being a kind of "blur" to those senses, so they mesh oddly )
But if it begins changing in either intensity or character, get a scan.
( I'm a braindamage survivor, and it takes decades to adapt to braindamage: prevention/avoidance is better than hating one's life for decades, while being bullied by all who reject that it could still validly be a problem, and hold that one ought either force oneself into being an "acceptable" drugged psychiatric-zombie, and not "pretend" to be getting better, or one ought be able to be acceptable-pretence, just like Valid People(TM) are. )
_ /\ _
See a GP
This is not something for Lemmy to solve. This is something for a psychiatrist to solve.
It’s a type of tinnitus. Learn about it.
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Ignore any advice here except "go to a doctor"
See a doctor.
As said by others; see a physician, then a psychiatrist (in that order).
Auditory pseudo-hallucinations may be completely benign, especially if you've partaken in psychedelic substances recent or long since past, but they may also be an early warning sign of (like you said) potential pressure on the brain or abnormality in brain functioning.
And even that might be fine.
Either way, why gamble? Go see a doctor.
It's pretty normal, brains try to meaning or something in its senses. Sometimes if you hear tapping you may start believing it's the beat to a certain song. There is also of course that viral video that makes you hear "brainstorm" or "green needle" depending on which option you are mentally choosing.
If you expect to hear something you will hear it. There have been funny moments where I removed my earbuds, put them down, and I kept listening to the faintly playing music. I put them back in 30 seconds later and I realized they were muted the whole time
This is normal, I hear it too sometimes. Particularly when I'm laying with one ear covered so I'm hearing white noise while trying to fall asleep. Something about the mix of frequencies, part of them traveling through/bouncing off the walls and the pillow, and just getting older sometimes creates an illusion that a TV is on in the other room or someone is talking outside. Sometimes I'll think my phone alarm is going off (I use internet radio for the alarm, so I never know specifically how it will sound), but then lift my head and my brain has enough info to determine it's just noise.
Mild hallucinations are normal. It's impossible for your brain to gather 100% accurate data, let alone process everything it is handed, so it hallucinates all the time in ways you don't notice to fill in the gaps (ex. the large blind spot in your vision that your brain has learned to ignore). It's only if it's starting to cause you distress or cognitive dissonance that you should seek help. Ex. it's one thing to hear a TV in the other room that's not there, it's another to conclude that your long-deceased grandfather must be watching TV and think that's normal.
As we get older, our bodies start to wear down. If something starts to fray, it's generally not a problem unless you completely ignore it until the little problem becomes a big problem.
Don't get freaked out by some of the words thrown around in these responses. You should probably invest in an annual medical checkup, this is a great thing to ask them.
Repeating what everyone else has said, and strongly recommending that you see your doctor.
But if it eases your mind a little, I had a similar experience that was ultimately diagnosed as tinnitus, and treated effectively with behavioral therapy. It's scary thinking something is wrong with you, but getting diagnosed is great because you get to know more than you did before about what is wrong.
Because it can’t be said enough…
See a doctor. Make an appointment today, now. Not tomorrow.
Do not try to self diagnose. It will only go poorly.
Seriously, it's never a bad idea to have a check-in with your doctor, but this is totally normal. Our brains are pattern-matching machines that try to make coherent sense of our sensory input, and do so overzealously. After all, we evolved this way because it's better for survival to mistakenly hear a lion in the brush than to ignore the sounds of a lion that's really there. That's why we see a face in the moon, and Jesus on slices of toast.
It's also the phenomenon behind those ghost-hunting shows. They put a recording device in an empty building, and our brains pick out "voices" from random static that it records.
It's called auditory pareidolia, and here's an article about it.
it's never a bad idea to have a check-in with your doctor
Assuming medical visits are free and your doctor cannot make mistakes.
I knew a woman who went in for a colonoscopy, and then had a cascade of complications resulting from poor skill and bad decisions. She never left the hospital. She died in there, because the medical staff sucked at their jobs.
Well, if a neurologist orders a colonoscopy, the OP has big problems! Joking aside, sorry about your acquaintance, that stinks. In any case, "never hurts to" is a figure of speech, at least in my part of the world, which roughly implies, "you could do that, but in my estimation, it won't help."
What about when wearing (really good) noise cancelling head phones? Everything you've mentioned is when there is some sort of noise going on, but it's it also happening with everything cancelled out? A few people have pointed out Auditory Pareidoilia which is your brain trying to find words/pattern/meaning in the noise it is hearing, but is it also doing that when the only sound it can hear is it's own blood whooshing though your veins, which it should be used to? What about in a sensory deprivation tank?
There's Hearing - which is what the all the tiny bits of your ears connected to the nerves do, then there's Perception - which is how your brain interprets the information it receives from the nerves connected to your ears and puts it back together. Basically, your brain is working overtime to try to figure out why you are listening to the noise you are listening to. As long as it's only happening in those situations described and, as others have said, it's not voices telling to do anything.
Wow, lots of comments.
Before having read any replies, I'd already scheduled a doctor visit. Tinnitus being my first guess. Still, it's limited to specific circumstances, and I have near-perfect pitch, so I thought maybe my mind was simply consuming/interpreting additional data. Still, it will be investigated.
I found the Schizophrenia comments... interesting, because it does run in the family. I will make sure the physician is thorough and considers all possibilities.
A bunch of posts are saying see a GP and/or Psychiatrist, and absolutely do that. But also make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector in your home (you should have one anyway). This vaguely reminds me of that one Reddit post.
Probably just your brain being creative and trying to make up stuff to entertain itself. I wouldn't worry about auditory hallucinations unless they happen to you in times of silence. Like if it was dead silent and you hear Captain Hook talking but he's not there, that's a problem.
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Schizophrenia is a jump, and treatment is too. Treatment only happens when it's impacting your quality of life in some way, hearing benign auditory hallucinations, which as pointed elsewhere are common and can be induced in anyone with sufficient sensory deprivation, are not even slightly a concern.
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I have this, the fan sounds I can hear music in there, and to me it sounds like it's coming in my ears, not from my brain. Running water can do the same.
Yes it's hallucinatory but no way is it pathological unless you start believing the voices are real and talking to you.
dude your brain is doing a ton of things all the time youre not directly aware of. youre just accidentally being made aware of your brains background noise.
if it comes into focus (you can hear and understand sustained voices/noises) , see a doctor.
otherwise it seems like the normal background brain chatter ive dealt with my whole life.
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ha, im old. ive made peace with most of my quirks. i consider myself one of the lucky ones with mildly enhanced awareness.
it kills me that all these religious wackjobs 'trust their feelings'. dude, how can you trust a meat-chemical bag of bullshit? ours species motto is 'to err is human' but sure, your feelings for jesus means hes real.
As many said before here, if you're concerned go see a professional. But overall this sounds like your brain is just very keen on doing its pattern matching thing.
I think the most important aspect is whether you're "suffering" from this or whether you just notice it from time to time and can shrug it off. If it's the later, I'd keep an eye (or ear?) on it, but not worry about it too much.
Probably just a minor processing error in your sound driver and nothing to worry about. I think I have had a similar experience with a particular white noise machine with hearing some slightly patterned sound when there wasn't really a pattern. If it's bothering you or increasing can't hurt to go see a doctor (well can't hurt too bad as long as you're insured...) and get their input.
Brain can put its spin on perception, especially when tired or agitated, like, when anticipating something out of worry/fear (which can be somewhat subconscious).
But yeah having talk with a doctor is not a bad idea.
zeroth of all, don't ask randos on internet for medical advice. ask a doc about it if it's distressing for you. this might be something as benign as normal reaction to sensory deprivation
If you smoke or otherwise consume marijuana, it can cause auditory hallucinations.
Normal I think. I hear what you're saying, but specifically more noticeable when it's dead silent. I hate it. So... I sleep with rain sounds or a YouTube video of someone talking.
Sometimes the white noise videos on YouTube actually have people in then and noises in the background. Some are actual airplane engines.
Also I don't doubt many are looped, so hearing a repeating pattern would make plenty sense..
I'm not sure I experience exactly what you describe - I'd describe what I hear as a radio just barely audible in the background. I only experience it when I'm about to fall asleep or supposed to be getting up.
Ten or so years ago after a really long day of school I flopped down in bed and noticed it and I made a conscious decision to listen rather than move. Ever since it happens a couple times a month now. I've never found it concerning and it's maybe almost comforting, like, "oh, that thing is back."
It's exactly like a soft radio where you're only catching bits and pieces of what's being said. Sometimes I recognize unusual words I heard from that day, the voices are distinct and can be female or male. I can't decide if I can influence what's being said or not. I do think the harder I pay attention the more coherent things start to sound.
My feeling is that bits of what I've heard throughout the day, or maybe longer, are getting played back to me. But I've never recognized any of the voices of heard anything said that I could identify as verbatim from the day.
Brother you must check with a psychiatrist. They can confirm whether these are just harmless pattern matching or symptoms of schizophrenia. Nobody here is qualified, and this is way too risky to leave unchecked.
This happens to me as well, looking forward to a diagnosis 🧠
It’s this and it’s normal and it’s not schizophrenia:
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/apophenia-audio-pareidolia-and-musical-ear-syndrome/
Stimulant use?
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Check with a psychiatrist, who will know the right questions to ask in order to determine if there's something to be concerned about.
But it's also possible that your human brain is looking for patterns and creating them if it doesn't find any.
It can also reflect stressors in your life. I sometimes "hear" the phone ringing or my husband calling me when I'm in the shower. Not surprisingly, I no longer hear a baby crying now that my kids are grown. That "white noise" has so many notes that your brain can easily find the ones it's listening for.
As others have mentioned, see a psychiatrist. If you need medication then it might take a little bit to figure out what works best for you and catching it before it gets worse is always good.
That's a referral to a series of specialists and probably an MRI or two at minimum. Cancer is a deeply shitty way to die, go talk to your doctor ASAP.
Very unlikely any of those things happen, unlikelier that they need to.
Sometimes when i'm listening to music I'll hear "Audio Jungle"
Doctor. Could be tinnitus.
See a GP or an ENT (could be a form of tinnitus if you are not making out words). However, let them diagnose and stick with whatever they tell you to do next.