Some people hear music that’s not there; but why?
Musical hallucinations are generally found in people who have suffered hearing loss or even complete deafness; but why? The reason is unknown, but British neuroscientists claim to have found a basis for musical hallucinations in the brain.
Using a technique called with magneto encephalography, or MEG for short, they traced investigate brain activity in a 66 year old woman who had been hearing “piano melodies” in her head for almost two years after she had suddenly become partly deaf.
The melody – sometimes a recognizable tune, sometimes something “made up” that would repeat itself for hours. Listening to real music would stop the phantom music but would restart after several seconds. The problem with the procedure is it can’t separate the effects of the musical ‘hallucinations” from the effect of stopping the listening of “real” music.
Other people have had similar musical hallucinations ,and so far there is no solution; but many seem to feel that it is at least a more “acceptable” type of hallucination than any type of hallucination they could have had.