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Imagine you're spending the weekend alone; your family has gone on a trip and you just want to enjoy some peace and quiet. As you're settling in your room with your favourite book, you start hearing a familiar song amidst the piercing silence.

You might not know it yet but you're experiencing a rare condition called musical ear syndrome. Unlike hearing a song in your head, people with MES perceive the sound as coming from an outside source.

What is Musical Ear Syndrome (MES)?

Musical ear syndrome is a rare condition that impacts hearing. As the name suggests, MES makes the sufferer hear melodic tunes that aren't even there. MES is quite different from the reverberation heard after listening to a concert. If it lasts only a short while, there's no need to worry about it. 

Dr. Neil Bauman defines Musical Ear Disorder (MES) as hearing non-auditory phantom sounds. These auditory hallucinations tend to be musical but often include other strange sounds. MES is typically a benign disease but can disrupt a patient's quality of life.

People who suffer from MES regularly "hear" a broad array of music, voices, and noises related to hearing loss. These hallucinations are usually pleasant but can be irritating due to their persistent nature. Some musical hallucinations often associated with MES include:  

• Hymns
• Christmas Carols
• Patriotic Sounds
• Orchestra Music
• Popular Music

What causes Musical Ear Syndrome?

There is no single cause of musical ear syndrome. However, medical professionals often link MES with hearing loss and auditory deprivation. It's estimated that around 3% of the population has MES. Experts suspect the condition is severely underreported due to its stigma tied to mental health disorders.

MES usually affects people over 45-50 years of age due to their often depreciating hearing abilities and is more common in women than in men. Some researchers believe that MES responds to a lack of sound stimuli. This causes the brain to perceive its sounds from our auditory memories.

A study using EEG scanning discovered that MES patients activated their auditory centres as if they were listening to music! MES is commonly found in people who have undergone hearing-related procedures.

A 2019 study found that 22% of respondents reported symptoms of MES after a cochlear procedure. Although cochlear implants do not cause musical ear syndrome, there’s a clear link between these two. Since many factors are involved, the medical community still hasn’t agreed on a definitive cause of MES.

Is There a Cure for Musical Ear Syndrome?

Although a cure for Musical Ear Syndrome hasn’t been found yet, there is still a cause for hope. Various treatment options are available to those diagnosed with MES. We encourage our readers to consult with an otolaryngologist since every case differs.

MES presents many challenges for sufferers daily. We aim to offer as much support to our readers through health education and tips on managing these symptoms.

What is the difference between MES and Tinnitus?

Though a common question, tinnitus or “ringing in the ears” is an umbrella term where patients hear various perceived sounds, tonal or pulsing.

Three main categories define how a patient hears a tinnitus sound:

1. Tonal Tinnitus: Refers to nearly continuous, well-defined frequencies. Sufferers often perceive ringing, hissing or screeching.
2. Pulsatile Tinnitus: Refers to pulsing sounds such as rhythmic thumping or throbbing. These are often in beat with the patient’s heartbeat. 
3. Musical Tinnitus: Musical ear syndrome is commonly referred to as "musical tinnitus". Compared to the previous two, MES is rarer and involves more complex and melodic phantom sounds.

MES vs Auditory Hallucinations

Auditory hallucinations perceive sound despite the absence of stimuli. Musical hallucinations perceive a more complex auditory hallucination, which includes melodic tones.

When you experience a musical hallucination, it sounds as if a record player is playing it. Some people with musical hallucinations worry that it might represent mental health conditions like schizophrenia.

Although in schizophrenia, it is common to hear voices, it has no connection to MES. Medical professionals educated on the syndrome should assure patients to reduce this stigma. Instead, MES is merely  a side effect of hearing loss.

Musical hallucination is more common in individuals with epilepsy or Alzheimer’s. Suppose you experience musical hallucinations accompanied by changes in your eyesight, dizziness, severe headaches, or issues with your speech or movements. In that case, you must address this with your doctor.

MES improvement methods: recommendations, coping strategies and therapy for the condition

Since MES can come from a wide array of factors, each individual's course of treatment will be unique. Fortunately, MES also benefits from the same methods used for other tinnitus types. These include:

1. Medications - MES is a known side effect for over 200 prescription and over-the counter drugs. If you suspect that your pills are causing MES, please consult with your doctor. You should never stop your prescribed medication without advice from a medical professional. To reduce adverse effects, older patients should consider non-drug treatments for MES.
   
   
2. Hearing Aids - MES correlates with sound deprivation, making your ears more sensitive. Amplifying the sound the patient is exposed to is one of the critical solutions to sound deprivation. You may try a hearing aid that reduces the experience of MES symptoms.
   
   
3. Therapy - Research shows that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help people deal with Tinnitus. CBT won’t stop the music, but it can help you learn to get along with it. These exercises train the mind to ignore musical hallucinations.

Mindfulness Strategies for MES

You might wonder what mindfulness actually means? This can be an excellent question. Mindfulness is a way of focusing on the present moment in a non-judgmental way. It can help you develop a healthier relationship with food, exercise, and other activities, which can manage your musical hallucinations.

The best way to practice mindfulness is to make a habit of doing it throughout your day, as often as possible. This will help your body and mind become more relaxed and focused, which will help you learn how to tune out that music!

Increasing your mindfulness can be challenging. If you're struggling, take a look at our list of primary activities for mindfulness:

1. Mindful driving

   When you're behind the wheel, try to pay attention to your surroundings instead of thinking of your destination. Drive in a slow and relaxed manner and react calmly, when necessary.
   
   Make small efforts, like pausing to take a deep breath every time your car reaches a stoplight. This practice sounds easy on a leisurely drive, but the real benefits come when your musical hallucinations feel like they’re taking up the whole car.
   
   

2. Mindful eating

   Pay attention to the food you eat, how it tastes in your mouth, and how you swallow it. Try eating slowly, taking each bite one at a time, and thoroughly chewing while savouring your food. Cultivate gratitude by being thankful for the meal on your plate. This can be a practice that you share with loved ones before a meal or you can explore it on your own.
   
   

3. Mindful walking

   Walking is a simple and accessible way to engage in mindful movement. It has the added benefit of getting you outside, where you can enjoy fresh air and sunshine. Try taking a walk outside in your neighbourhood or at the park. While walking, notice the sensations in your body. Notice how each foot falls on the ground and how it feels when it steps on different surfaces like grass or cement. Feel the wind against your face or your arms if they are outstretched as you walk along. Try doing this for 15 minutes daily, and see how it changes your perspective.
   
   

4. Single-tasking

   
   If you're like most people, you probably multitask a lot. And that's okay! But it can make it hard to focus when experiencing an MES episode.
   
   Single-tasking involves concentrating on one task at a time rather than doing several things at once. It sounds simple, but musical ear syndrome can make your mind go a million kilometres an hour. It can be hard to remember what you're doing at all!
   
   Focus on one thing at a time without interrupting yourself— you may use Pomodoro timers and sticky notes to keep track of what you're doing. This can also help prevent burnout and reduce distractions from other activities.

Creative activities for mindfulness

Musical hallucinations can be frustrating to deal with and make you feel helpless. For as much as Mindy likes to stay healthy, her early 40s have been riddled with songs and tunes that she is not playing. Though she loves ABBA and the Bee Gees, the symptoms of Musical Ear Syndrome have become a nuisance in her daily life.

Having recently retired from working as a classical musician, she has heard some of her cohorts experiencing the same symptoms even if it has been a few years since they last stepped into an orchestral theatre.

When dealing with Musical Ear Syndrome, it can be challenging to keep your head in the game. You might feel like you're not as productive as you usually are, and you might even feel depressed.

But there’s still hope! Here are a few creative ways to get back on track:

1. Create a gratitude list

   
   Write down five things you're grateful for every day. It's easy to forget about things when we're busy, but writing down what makes you happy can help keep your mind focused on positive things. A gratitude list is an easy way to practice mindfulness and start paying attention to what's happening around you. It's also an excellent opportunity to get in touch with your positive emotions and express them verbally—so if you're feeling down and frustrated, write down one thing in your life right now that makes you feel grateful!
   
   

2. Live in the moment

   Focus on how amazing you feel right now by taking in your current surroundings instead of worrying about what happened yesterday or tomorrow's big meeting at work. By taking this approach, you'll be able to slow down and reflect on what you're experiencing. This can be especially helpful if you find yourself overwhelmed by too much information or feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of your situation.
   
   

3. Focus on your breathing

   Deep breathing helps relax our bodies, which can help us feel less stressed out when we're feeling anxious or overwhelmed by our problems at work or home. This technique has been shown to help people with musical ear syndrome and can also help reduce stress and anxiety by calming the body's nervous system. So practice taking deep breaths whenever something feels overwhelming—whether it's a stressful meeting at work or driving home from school late at night after playing soccer with friends.
   
   Remember: MED is just your brain filling in the gaps for parts you can't hear anymore. Nothing more! So don't let it get to you!
   
   

Wellcare Naturcare Sound Relaxation

Naturcare can help to promote a good night's sleep, aid meditation, and even tune out disturbing noise to help you concentrate. With just a touch of a button, you can get in touch with nature with the help of seven sound settings. The Naturcare Sound has a volume rocker that allows you to adjust to a proper setting that suits your needs. Relax to the sounds of heartbeat, sea waves, rippling brooks or birds, and let the stresses of the day drift away.

It also includes a 30-minute sleep timer, so you never have to worry about battery consumption or the device being switched on for too long. Naturcare Sound Relaxation is powered by 4 X AA 1.5V batteries.

Benefits for customers with MES and tinnitus

Naturcare Sound Relaxation also serves as a sound masking device that may help relieve symptoms of MES or Musical Tinnitus. Sound masking was developed to mask tinnitus noises or distract attention away from it. This device clears your brain with tunes to compensate for the loss of auditory stimulation.

Another vital advantage of Naturcare Sound Relaxation is sound enrichment. There are seven natural sounds to choose from: heartbeat, sea waves, running stream, birdsong, woodland glade, falling raindrops, and simple white noise.

Features of the product

• Stepless Volume Knob
• Sleep timer
• 7 Sounds of Nature to choose from
• Battery powered for maximised usage
• Measurements: Dia. 14cm x 11.6cm
• 380g

Conclusion

Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) is a rare condition that can result in musical hallucinations linked to auditory degradation. More often than not, people with MES hear pleasant tones but struggle as these symptoms affect their quality of life. Because it's a rare disorder, more research is needed to understand the condition. Although there is no definitive cure for MES, you can be hopeful knowing there are plenty of ways to manage it. Luckily methods such as mindfulness and sound therapy have been shown to alleviate severe symptoms.

Alleviating your symptoms doesn’t need to take up much of your time. You can start small with simple breathing techniques and exercising gratitude. Making a few lifestyle changes and taking the time to relax can help your brain become more focused, and help you to learn to tune out the music.