Earworms and Hallucinations

Group One Presentation

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"Many people are set off by the theme music of a film or television show or an advertisement. This is not coincidental, for such music industry, to 'hook' the listener, to be 'catchy' or 'sticky,'to bore its way, like an earwig, into the ear or mind, hence the term, 'earworms' - though one might be inclined to call them 'brainworms' instead."

-Oliver Sacks, "Brainworms, Sticky Music, and Catchy Tunes" (p. 450)

Advertisers and movie producers systematically create tunes that linger in the minds of the audience so that the thought of their product remains long after the experience. The music is so effective that despite never having had first hand experience with the product one can still recall it because of the simple and catchy design of the jingle.

We are all prone to and plagued by these detestably irresistible jingles. We all know what it's like for them to creep up on us out of nowhere and to play over and over in our heads regardless of how badly we wish them away. This is thanks to the overwhelming proliferation of music in our lives. We are constantly saturated in auditory stimulation. This makes getting songs stuck in our heads inevitable and it also increases the likeliness of musical hallucinations.

If a tree falls in the middle of a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? No. Sound is an experience. Sound waves will emit when the tree hits the ground, but until those waves meet ears, they are just waves. Experiences in any of the five senses occur when stimuli from the surrounding environment meet our receptors, but these experiences are particular to us and because of our particular receptors. We are the storehouse, the birthplace, of the experience we call sound. It happens in our brains. The external wave is something else entirely before it meets our ears.

It is much more likely to think of a catchy tune when we are not already listening to music because our ears are preoccupied. Following this line, Sacks points out that musical hallucinations are far more common in people with hearing impairments. The lack of stimulation brought about by the failing sense organ does not mean the parts of the brain active while listening become impaired themselves. During musical hallucination, these neurons fire in the same way that they do when actual music is heard. We are so identified with our five senses that when the brain operates without them, it feels like it is an autonomous happening, outside of ourselves. The people suffering the hallucinations know that there is no actual stimuli, so describe the experience like a radio or ipod playing by itself.

"Half of us are plugged into iPods, immersed in daylong concerts of our own choosing, virtually oblivious to the environment -- and for those who are not plugged in, there is nonstop music, unavoidable and often of deafening intensity, in restaurants, bars, shops, and gyms. This barrage of music puts a certain strain on our exquisitely sensitive auditory systems, which cannot be overloaded without dire consequences" (Sacks, 53).

Whether we are surrounded by music is not a matter of our choice. With recent developments in technology one has constant access via file sharing websites, on-line radio, iPods, etc. However, music surrounds us in the form of ambient music as well - notably in elevators, advertisements, stores, etc. This pervasive and constant flood of music that we experience eventually leads to music hallucinations once the overstimulated subject is deprived of music. Sacks points to many cases where such auditory sense deprivation results from old age and hearing loss.

"The crucial factor, Konorski suggested, is the sensory input from eyes, ears, and other sense organs, which normally inhibits any backflow of activity from the highest parts of the cortex to the periphery. But if there is a critical deficiency of input from the sense organs, this will facilitate a backflow, producing hallucinations physiologically and subjectively indistinguishable from perceptions" (Sacks, 83).

Music hallucinations are the result of sensory deprivation - but this deprivation is relative to the over-saturated minds of our society. The number of cases of music hallucinations has risen, indicating that our current overstimulation may cause the hallucinations as it normalizes an otherwise exorbitant amount of audio-data that is received throughout our life times.