When the human ear encounters music, a number of brain systems are engaged by the incoming sound. The music signal is first directed to the thalamus, which relays the information to the primary auditory cortex.
Once activated, this part of the brain is thought to identify the fundamental elements of the music, such as pitch and loudness. The secondary auditory cortex then processes the harmony, melody and rhythmic patterns, and the tertiary auditory cortex seems to integrate everything into the overall experience of music. Such is the process to the best of modern science’s understanding, but the complex mental digestion of music is not yet fully understood.
Equally difficult to explain is a strange phenomenon known as “musical hallucinations” which is a condition very similar to having a song stuck in one’s head; but the music is considerably more true-to-life, it is heard almost non-stop, and it is practically impossible to ignore.
The condition was first identified over a century ago, though phantom songs were haunting people since long before it was officially recognized by medicine. Sufferers describe it as a constant flow of random songs, with one song often leading to the next in a never-ending shuffle-mode torment. In some cases, a single song is heard repeatedly. The sound is so vivid that when a person first starts experiencing the symptoms, they often ask others whether they can hear the music, too. Many of the people who complain of the affliction are elderly, and often they are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Historically, little effort has been made to study the strange phenomenon, but Doctors Victor Aziz and Nick Warner of Wales recently conducted an analysis of thirty cases of musical hallucinations. The study, which spanned fifteen years’ worth of patients, has revealed some interesting new information about the condition.
The condition differs from schizophrenia in that there are no imaginary voices speaking to the sufferer, just a constant stream of music. Women reported the problem more often than men, and the average age of the patients was seventy-eight. The type of music heard by these individuals varied greatly, but about two-thirds of those studied tended to hear religious music.
For those sufferers without any escape from the non-stop jukebox in their minds, one can only hope that the next song is a good one.
