musical tinnitus

[Speedyknitter123]

I have been hearing music in my ears for about 8 wis, was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this & how do you deal with it.

[Happyrosie]

if you go to the website of Tinnitus UK and I put “musical into their search box, you’ll find a helpful article written by a doctor.

Personally I I rarely have it, and when I do I ignore it or turn the radio on to a classical music programme.

[Speedyknitter123 in reply to Happyrosie]

thank you I’ll have a look.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

In case anyone else is experiencing Musical Tinnitus (also known as Musical Hallucination), you'll find our guide here - tinnitus.org.uk/understandi...

[Speedyknitter123]

Thankyou so much, that was so helpful, I just couldn’t find anyone else who had it.

[marigold60]

I had it a long time ago. I would get it in bed at night. It was like listening to a radio and it was fascinating rather than worrying. Years later I've got buzzing hissing noises instead, wether it's a progression I'm not sure.

[Speedyknitter123]

Thankyou, I have only had it for 8 wks or so but I get it all the time day & night! My doctor had never heard of it so she referred me to the audiologist who I haven’t seen yet. Maybe once I see them I will have a better idea how to deal with it. It is helpful to know that there are other people out there who have it though.

[Beesmac]

Good morning - I suffer with musical tinnitus or Musical Ear Syndrome. Mine started 2 1/2 years ago when I suffered a bout of Labyrinthitis which left me almost totally deaf in my right ear. It was the week before Christmas and all of a sudden I thought I heard our local Rotary Club playing Silent Night doing their yearly collection. My husband went outside as I insisted I could hear something but no-one was there. I thought it was funny at first but when I awoke the next day I worried. After a few days the music changed and is now undefined, repetitive 24/7. I started to get panicky and googled my symptoms and was horrified to discover there is no cure. My doctor has never heard of this also but just sent me a link to the British Tinnitus Org. I went into deep depression at first. I paid to see an ENT specialist. The pandemic was at its worst and NHS waiting time was a year. An MRI scan showed all was ok and an Audiologist explained to me that because I had suddenly become profoundly deaf, my brain realised there was no sound going into my right ear so decided to put some there which happened to be music (I am a music lover) it took me months to accept this. Have you had your ears tested? Most MES starts with hearing loss. You will become more accustomed to it. There is a Facebook group for Musical Ear Syndrome. You are not alone x

[Speedyknitter123 in reply to Beesmac]

Hi Beesmac Thankyou so much for sharing your experience, it helps so much to know I am not alone. I have had hearing aids for the past 6 years & I had my annual check not that long ago before all this started but I have an appointment to see them again in a couple of weeks time to see if the hearing aids need adjusting. I havnt seen the audiologist at the hospital yet as they take ages. I am just trying to find out as much as I can at the moment to see how best to cope with it I’ll have a look at the Facebook page too to see if I can glean anything from there. Thanks again , take care x

[ms2608]

I have suffered with this for approximately two years. Spring 2022 it got quite bad, I usually hear the music when I wake up during the night. Quite often it is somebody singing in Spanish - although I don't speak Spanish myself! At first I thought it was my neighbours, although I'd never heard any noise from them before, they have two young children and I thought that maybe they played the music to get them back to sleep. Sometimes Onward Christian Soldiers could be heard, which I did think was rather an odd choice. One night the music was going on and on, and, being at the end of my tether, I got out of bed at 4 a.m. to go and knock on their door. I couldn't see any lights on in their house, so decided that I would call around the next day. I did so, and politely said that I could hear their music during the night, they informed me that they very rarely play music, and certainly not during the night. I made my apologies, and slunk away! Dr Google provided the answer - there was no music. I did explain this to my neighbours, I think they thought that I was a little crazy. I spent the last 12 months having an operation, and treatment for incurable cancer, so didn't pursue this with my GP. When I was in hospital, I sent my son a text to tell him that I could hear the music - he said that the neighbours must be stalking me! 😆 I'm due to see my GP soon, so will finally discuss it with her, now that I'm only having 3 monthly appointments at the hospital for the cancer, I feel able to deal with another ailment.

[Speedyknitter123 in reply to ms2608]

hi, sorry to hear about your cancer, I hope you are feeling a bit better.

Yes I can relate to your music, it feels so real & people give you that funny look when you mention it to them. I get it all the time, just the same few pieces of music & then the record sticks & that is really annoying. It seems to go louder if I’m in a noisy atmosphere as if it’s trying to beat the noise. Night time is the worst when the drumming starts! I have an appointment with the audiologist at the hospital on the14th so looking forward to actually speaking to someone about it & hopefully getting some advice. It is very weird 🤫 Hope you get some help from your Gp. Take care x

[Geronima]

Hi I wonder how you got on? I’ve just started experiencing symptoms for the past 2 weeks 24/7. Same as you the night time drumming is the worst! All the best.

[JumpJiving]

My mother (age 93) has this. Unfortunately, cognitive issues mean that she cannot accept that it is musical tinnitus. She keeps sending carers down the road to search for where the music is coming from, or sending them to the nearest pub to ask for the music to be turned down. Needless to say, there is no external source of the music. I've put sound monitoring devices in her house in the past to monitor 24x7 and nothing. It's upsetting for her and disturbs her sleep (she regularly says she was kept awake all night by the music, despite living in a quiet part of a quiet village). Unfortunately, she won't use her hearing aids reliably, won't use a white noise generator, won't turn on music or natural sounds, etc., so there's little we can do

Usually (95+% of the time), the music she hears is the same piece of music from a US propaganda film from WWII, something that really isn't going to be playing in a sleepy UK village. However, she had one occasion where she was hearing a Shakespearean sonnet that I'd never even heard of - I had to Google the words that she heard to identify it. That one must have come from very deep in her subconscious - she wasn't even aware of knowing the piece and has never studied Shakespeare, having left school at 14 and missed lots of school prior to that. The brain is a magical thing, but very frustrating for anybody suffering from this. Those of us (including both my wife and myself) with more typical tinnitus and who recognise it for what it is probably have things much easier.