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iPods May Be Contributing to "Musical Hallucinations"

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 at 7:45 PM - by

A small group of psychologists and neurologists are investigating a condition they are calling "musical hallucinations" that stem from using iPods and other digital media devices. According to London's the Evening Standard, the condition is akin to having a song stuck in your head, but that the looping music appears to you to be real.

According to Dr. Viktor Haziz, the condition is being caused from malfunctioning brain waves that interpret the sounds around them into music heard in the past. He also told the Evening Standard that it's not just iPods and other devices that can cause the phenomenon, but any person who is exposed to reptitive music. It is the growing use of such devices, however, that are leading to increasing examples of the condition.

"People who are bombarded by music tend to hear music," Dr Aziz told the newspaper. "I suspect the rates of hallucinations in orchestral players will be higher than normal. So, as we hear more music every day, cases will probably go up."

There is more information on the condition at the Evening Standard.

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DrShakagee said:

member since 14 Jun 2001 with 941 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:03 pm

I have had something similar happen to me before from using the jackhammer all day at work. It really did sound real to me many hours later. I wish I would get music stuck in my head instead.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:15 pm

i used to listen to my ipod every chance i get at high volume. now, even when i'm not hooked up to the ipod, i still hear my music in my head, as if i still have my earbuds on. So now, to counter that effect, I drown out the music by using the jackhammer at work more often than i used to and for longer periods of time.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:08 pm

what a load of hooey, ooowee baby, ooowee, ooowee baby,

Ooowee, ooowee baby! Won't you let me take you on a sea cruise?

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jul 28, 2005 1:47 am

I just hear voices now. The music stopped a long time ago.

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jimothy said:

member since 04 Jun 2004 with 612 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:53 am

This bodes ill for the iPod. Apple can brag all they want about the capacity to hold 15,000 songs, but the fact of the matter is the iPod will become obsolete once people realize they can simply hallucinate and hold a near-infinite number of songs in something they carry with them wherever they go anyway--their head.

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mblaydoe said:

member since 29 Nov 2004 with 2 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:22 am

These are probably the same Brit scientists who were previously studying how beer drinking makes you smarter.

Do Brit scientists ever do anything USEFUL?

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:11 am

Aren't these hallucinations of the same type as those suffered by RC when writing his anti-Mac comments??

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:35 am

I think these are the same scientists who conclused that British cars are the most reliable.

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mahuti said:

member since 09 Jan 2003 with 377 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 28, 2005 11:18 am

Speaking of voices... if I keep listening to podcasts am I going to become schizophrenic?

Oh well, based on the podcasts I listen to... I guess the worst that could happen is voices will constantly be telling me to mod stuff, or will be telling me about the history of some english word.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:05 am

Biff wrote:
I think these are the same scientists who conclused that British cars are the most reliable.

I'm not sure about that but I'm believe these are the same scientists that concluded that there's no such thing as "conclused".

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:11 am

Guest wrote:
Biff wrote:
I think these are the same scientists who conclused that British cars are the most reliable.

I'm not sure about that but I'm believe these are the same scientists that concluded that there's no such thing as "conclused".

Only a monkey highlights a spelling mistake while introducing a grammatical error. LMAO

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:15 am

Guest wrote:
Only a monkey highlights a spelling mistake while introducing a grammatical error. LMAO

LMAO2! This thread is too funny

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