Musical Hallucinations: When Tinnitus Becomes Music — A Lifelong Struggle Intensifies

Barnaby Duke

Member
Author
Feb 23, 2025
1
Tinnitus Since
01/1958
Cause of Tinnitus
No idea
I have had tinnitus all my life. After nearly seventy years, I had habituated to it and did not notice it most of the time. My hearing has never been good.

In June 2024, my hearing suddenly worsened almost overnight. Along with the hearing loss, my tinnitus increased dramatically. It went from the two sounds I had always known to what felt like every note possible. In response, my brain tried to make sense of the chaos by turning it into music.

I have been experiencing this nonstop, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, ever since. Every medical professional I have seen has told me there is nothing that can be done.

If anyone knows of anything that might help, I would love to hear about it. It is really quite annoying!
 
I have musical tinnitus too. It only started about 4 months ago. I do have some hearing loss, but this was completely unexpected. Mine also runs constantly and sometimes even wakes me up. It's often Christmas carols, which is especially ironic, since I'm Jewish…
 
My music changes or new tunes are added. I hear Joy to the World the most. I also hear It's a Gift to Be Simple and Happy Birthday. They repeat many times and are not appealing at all.
 
I have musical tinnitus too. It only started about 4 months ago. I do have some hearing loss, but this was completely unexpected. Mine also runs constantly and sometimes even wakes me up. It's often Christmas carols, which is especially ironic, since I'm Jewish…
For me too, musical tinnitus started about four months ago. It's been driving me crazy, playing nonstop music. Have you figured out the cause or found any medications or supplements that might help?
 
It has been a few more months with musical tinnitus. Now it only plays one song that my brain has made up, and it goes on all day. I listen to the car radio often to help cover it. I am going to see an ENT in January, which was the earliest appointment available. I have also developed an earache, and the volume of the tinnitus has increased significantly.
 
I've had tinnitus in my left ear for more than 45 years and had learned to live with it. About 20 years ago, that ear became deaf due to sudden hearing loss. A few months ago, I began hearing music, which is quite annoying. Even worse, my teeth chatter in rhythm with the melodies I hear in my head. The songs range from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony to pop music—I feel like a walking radio, even at night. Unfortunately, I haven't found any effective treatment so far.
 
I have musical tinnitus too. It only started about 4 months ago. I do have some hearing loss, but this was completely unexpected. Mine also runs constantly and sometimes even wakes me up. It's often Christmas carols, which is especially ironic, since I'm Jewish…
LOL

It's nice that you've got a sense of humor about it, being Jewish and all. 😉

Your humor also made me think of something the other day when my family volunteered to lay Christmas wreaths on veterans' tombstones.

Most are, of course, Christian, with a cross engraved in the marble. Some are Jewish, with the Star of David engraved in the marble. A few have nothing, or a symbol I didn't recognize. For those not familiar with the event, the procedure, out of respect, is to take one wreath at a time, go to the tombstone, read the deceased's name aloud, thank them for their service, and place the wreath just below their name.

I didn't think twice about the religion of the veteran, since anyone who served is worthy of respect and appreciation for helping to keep our nation safe.

Toward the end, when most sites already had a wreath, it seemed that the ones I was going to were Jewish veterans. It didn't occur to me that people might be purposely avoiding placing wreaths there until a woman saw me and said, "Yeah, thanks, I'm also making sure to place them on the Jewish graves." She almost sounded annoyed, and I inferred she was implying it was because they were Jewish, as if it were a slight.

I briefly said, "I really hadn't put any thought into what religion the veteran was," and continued placing wreaths until everyone was finished in my section.

It got me thinking, though, so I went to one of the staff members after the ceremony to ask if that was a thing. He explained that some Jewish veterans who are interred there, and or their families, specifically request not to have wreaths placed. However, for the purpose of the ceremony, they don't instruct volunteers to avoid those graves, because some Jewish veterans would appreciate the sentiment. Unless they, or deceased individuals of other faiths, specifically request otherwise, the caretakers leave the wreaths in place.

Afterward, they've got a list of graves where wreaths aren't supposed to remain and remove them.

At that point, the light bulb went off in my ringing head. I hadn't thought twice about it, because in my mind everyone deserved the honor, and it had nothing to do with religion. In my view, if I'd perished in a foreign country, say Israel, and were buried there, and they had a traditional Hanukkah ceremony honoring the deceased, mostly Jews because they make up most of the country, I wouldn't have any issue, to the degree any of us can once we're gone, with being honored through a Jewish tradition.

I've obviously gone a bit far from the primary theme of the thread, but we all need some levity and or distractions because of our maladies.
 

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