Is it possible to have musical ear syndrome without hearing loss ? If yes, am I at risk of a mental disease ?

You bet. Although Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) is probably more common in people with hearing loss, many people with normal hearing hear various kinds of phantom music.

One common cause for hearing phantom music is that if there is a constant background sound–typically a fan, furnace, air conditioner, etc. running–your brain somehow modulates this simple sound and turns it into music.

When the fan/furnace/air conditioner cycles off, the phantom music stops immediately and comes back when the device cycles back on. Many people have reported this to me. So this is one common cause of hearing people hearing phantom music.

Another cause of hearing phantom sounds is taking one or more of the hundreds of drugs that can cause auditory hallucinations. This can happen whether you are hearing or hard of hearing.

Thus hearing MES sounds does not mean that you have a mental disease, but it does not mean that you don’t. Typically, with mental illness people hear voices talking to or about them. With MES you typically hear music or if voices, they are usually singing or sound like a radio announcer or sportscaster on the TV from another room.

Regards

Neil

2

It’s important to say that tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease. Some people will have tinnitus because their Cochlea is damaged. And in a few, it could be caused due to hearing loss. But of course, the most common cause of tinnitus is exposure to loud noises. The noise can be a sudden burst, or it could be a constant banging that hits the ear drum and travels inside.

A good guide you can read about tinnitus and some good natural remedies can be found here: http://tinnitus.toptips.org/

THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy! I keep hearing music and radio announcers at night. I do sleep with a fan on, but even if there is no fan or a/c I still have it. It’s very annoying. Is there a way to cure this?

i had it hearing songs which i never knew before repeating over and over then going on to some other tune most were english or irish but very simple songs sang by country folk sounded from another century ie medeivel. the alarming thing was i was visually hallucinating all the time as it was happening