Hearing things that are not there

[Rob]

Sometimes I find myself hearing voices of "customers" coming into the store when I am away from the till, especially when the loud furnace and cooler fans are running. Maybe the interaction of the sounds and the constant expectation of people arriving anytime seem to play games with my mind and hearing. Sounds like an interesting subject to cover.

 

[bentHnau]

Auditory processing differences in the autistic brain sometimes cause one sound (such as a mechanical noise) to be mistaken for another (such as a voice).

 

[Rob]

Auditory processing differences in the autistic brain sometimes cause one sound (such as a mechanical noise) to be mistaken for another (such as a voice).

Thanks - an interesting phenomenon.

 

[tlc]

Yes this is me exactly. I always have heaters or fans running in my house, and often I hear voices in the fans. It's so bad I've gotten up at night to go downstairs and make sure someone hasn't broken in.

 

[Judge]

In the paranomal investigative world we refer to this as "audio pareidolia". But it's strictly something of this world...and nothing beyond. Just a way the mind, eyes (and ears) can trick us.

 

[Judge]

Well, I'm thankful to see there are others with this same "phenomenon." I was starting to wonder if my cheese had completely slipped of the cracker. I always figured it had something to do with the way my brain was processing sound, especially those in a certain MHz range, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if I was hearing voices.

LOL...yep at certain frequencies I hear "radio broadcast voices".....when it's really just a form of white noise.

 

[Rob]

Great feedback everyone - anyone else have this too? I'm interested in others' experiences.

 

[Ereth]

I don't know if this is common, but I'm quite good at recreating songs in my head once I've heard them---sort of a controllable "earworm." Does that count?

 

[Tarragon]

I used to hear someone calling my name when I was a kid a lot, in a quiet room with no background noise. Happened enough times for me to finally turn around and ask the voice "what?!"!!

Hasn't happened for a very long time now, but this thread reminded me of it. Definitely no background noise for me to mistake for a voice. I really was hearing voices!

I probably should have talked to myself. Would have been much more if a sensible conversation that me trying to talk to NT's

 

[donkey_kebab]

I regularly misinterpret sounds for voices. When I'm driving I can also think I hear distant sirens if the car has a lot of ambient noise.

I can completely mishear sentences if I'm not concentrating on the person. I hear them fine, but my brain attaches the wrong words to the sounds. That can have funny consequences!

 

[Rob]

I don't know if this is common, but I'm quite good at recreating songs in my head once I've heard them---sort of a controllable "earworm." Does that count?

There are two variations on this theme. Hearing external sounds that are not there due to the processing of the autistic brain (like a furnace running that sounds like the radio playing classical music) and hearing music playing in the brain internally much of the time. I get both of these things. After hearing music on the TV, radio or other source, the songs often play over and over again. So much of this goes on that I have trouble concentrating on things. These earworms seem to happen all the time in this case.

 

[Sass]

I often hear voices when there's no-one else around, particularly when I'm listening to loud music and I hear something that doesn't 'fit' within the song I'm listening to (I have an excellent memory for the smallest changes of pitch, and the pattern of songs, I think because my dad ran a radio station for years). That and I often think I see a cat out of the corner of my eye. Can be quite disconcerting.

 

[tlc]

Yes I get both of those. Having songs play over and over in my head. And the part about hearing voices in white noise.

Cats out of the corner of your eye? I often think I see spiders crawling across the floor or on my bed, and sometimes I've bolted out of bed and searched because of it and because I hate spiders. But I think it is most likely the floaters we get in our eyes as we get old.

 

[Sass]

Yes I get both of those. Having songs play over and over in my head. And the part about hearing voices in white noise.

Cats out of the corner of your eye? I often think I see spiders crawling across the floor or on my bed, and sometimes I've bolted out of bed and searched because of it and because I hate spiders. But I think it is most likely the floaters we get in our eyes as we get old.

Hey! Less of the 'old' stuff thanks!

 

[tlc]

No prob. That's just what my eye doc told me when I was like 26 and I was concerned that I started seeing spots and smudges and things. His words were "oh you're just getting old" and told me about the floaters.

 

[Christophe]

I hear my daughter crying or calling my name when she is not even in the house, (usually when I'm listening to an audio book or the TV. I sometimes hear screams also which is often quite freighting.
I've seen things (people out of the corner of my eye) and when I turn around they are gone.

Does that count?

 

[donkey_kebab]

I think the 'corner of the eye thing' is a little more than floaters. I get floaters (all humans do) they are flecks of collagen floating in the vitreous humour of your eyeball (ooh big words!).

I also get the peripheral vision disturbances that make me turn my head to see what they were. They are too dark and move too fast to be floaters IMHO. Black cats is a good description! They could possibly be veins that come into vision temporarily of course. I'm no doctor, but I feel that mine are certainly a neural disturbance.

PS - Here's a brilliant description/experiment to see the veins in your eye Freaky—This Simple Trick Lets You See the Blood Vessels In Your Eye

 

[Sass]

I think the 'corner of the eye thing' is a little more than floaters. I get floaters (all humans do) they are flecks of collagen floating in the vitreous humour of your eyeball (ooh big words!).

I also get the peripheral vision disturbances that make me turn my head to see what they were. They are too dark and move too fast to be floaters IMHO. Black cats is a good description! They could possibly be veins that come into vision temporarily of course. I'm no doctor, but I feel that mine are certainly a neural disturbance.

PS - Here's a brilliant description/experiment to see the veins in your eye Freaky—This Simple Trick Lets You See the Blood Vessels In Your Eye

Woo! Glad it's not just me! I see floaters a lot, but the phantom 'black cats', those I've been seeing since I was very small.

 

[XandirKai]

I always hear my name when I am in louder places. I always turn around, and my friends always just stare at me. Lol. I also think I hear my phone all the time, even though I know it's on silent. I mix up sounds sometimes. And also when not concentrating on a conversation I hear the wrong thing. Plus my hearing isn't the greatest. Yet still very sensitive to certain sounds, which affect me and annoy me.

 

[Judge]

One thing for sure, it helps to be cognizant of hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations and sleep paralysis. They can be quite disturbing, but they are also quite common and are not paranormal experiences at all.

Where you are either going into or coming out of REM (rapid eye movement sleep). Where your brain can play some amazing tricks on your mind and senses. If you are in bed and something very strange occurs...chances are you either fell asleep or what you thought you experienced was the result of coming out of a deep sleep. No telling what you thought you heard or saw...or experienced. But under such circumstances, it's likely that it wasn't real.