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The iPod revolution will trigger more 'musical hallucinations'?

28 July 2005 16:47 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 6 comments

According to Victor Aziz of Cardiff's Whitchurch Hospital (psychiatrist), the increasing exposure of music to human beings through new technology may lead to more people suffering from "musical hallucinations". He explained that a music hallucination wouldn't just simply be like having a song stuck in your head; it would be the musical equivalent of a visual hallucination. It�s like having a song playing in your head that you can�t stop.

However the condition is uncommon and usually linked to people who suffer from epilepsy, psychiatric conditions or brain tumours. "We are now exposed to a barrage of music and it seems that we might well see more cases of this in the future. We'll only know if we test people in 20 years' time." warned Aziz. His original beliefs were that musical hallucinations happened most commonly among people who used to listen to a lot of music at a young age.

His warning is interesting and shouldn't be ignored. It also makes sense when you consider that people probably are listening to far more music when they buy a portable MP3 player. The problem in the past with portable cassette players like Sony's walkman was the limited battery life and you could store a lot less songs on a tape than a HDD-based MP3 player (generally). A Discman is also awkwardly shaped and not something you could usually keep in a pocket. But an iPod or some other MP3 player is ideal to carry with you all the time, so generally people will listen to more music. So going by averages, musical hallucinations will probably rise.

If you have found yourself suffering from a musical hallucination, you will be surprised to find that the fix for the problem lies with the song you are hearing. Simply play the song with any player and it will compete with the song playing in your head and ultimately suppress it.

Source:
The Register

Permalink to this article

HP to stop reselling iPods (31 July 2005)

iTunes 500 million target reached (18 July 2005)

Apple reports its most successful quarter (14 July 2005)

Apple merges iPod and iPod Photo (30 June 2005)

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Discuss this article!
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 28 July 2005 18:37
Wow What a article!!! man what kinda finding is this... well personally as a person that has studied youth work (Teenage Pysch)I dont know how to take that yes i do agree with the eplipsy part as i used to suffer from that condition durin my young childhood... The aspect that was not mentioned in the artic;e was the part in how do u get effected by this and this is done by not just Ipods but can b done by Discmans andall the other audio type portable playes... the culprate is not really the hardware (the player) but more the headphones... as in we have different types of headphones it is the small ones that go into the ear hole and effect ur inner ear. This in my opioioin effects listners not the player length of time yes but not player... [ + quote]
neewbie (Member) 28 July 2005 19:06
haha. well i dont care cos i love my music and i want to listen to it as much as i can. ipod rules!! [ + quote]
Doggy_Bot (Inactive) 28 July 2005 19:08
They say its linked to people who suffer from epilepsy, psychiatric conditions or brain tumours...none of which i suffer from... And i personnaly think its a load of garbage...And right after Apples iTunes reaches its half a billion songs legally downloaded target...perfect moment as i would say to let the beast out of its cage... [ + quote]
spooky2k (Member) 29 July 2005 4:35
in my opinion, the problem here isnt the hardware, but the music industry that provides all this music :P this article is a load of codswollop. i met this guy when my sisters b.f. admitted himself into whitchurch, and my god, he's full of crap. Nice to see cardiff in the news though! Dan x [ + quote]
m_towell (Inactive) 31 July 2005 19:19
Ok, so we start to hear music when there isn't any - what does that do for ya, besides not having to have an ipod on you at all times to listen to music? [ + quote]
m_towell (Inactive) 31 July 2005 19:20
Ok, so we start to hear music when there isn't any - what does that do for ya, besides not having to have an ipod on you at all times to listen to music? [ + quote]