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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.