Melodic Sounds in the Head

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Now that I am pretty sure I had/have acute ASDies....

I remmember in my early childhood I used to have trouble when going to sleep.

A sound would just pop into my head....sort of like an advert in the middle of a movie.. a sound which was monotonous yet melodic and not distinguishable as being anything. I never knew what it was. Sometimes it was sort of comforting but most of the time disconcerting... at the time I didn't think there was anything wrong withme. But maybe I can associate it with something todo with AS?

Question did anyone else have/had this is similar 'advert' style intrusions upon the mind? The last time I had it was about 4 years ago. I think it's gone forever, a sound that I can't remmeber - yet still want to hear just so that I can finally make out what it is. , it was strange how I wanted to hear the sound sometimes just so that I could analyse it.

Not happened to me... Maybe to another, but I haven't had the experience, sorry.

It would come on sometimes while I was awake aswell....

Maybe not melodies playing in the head ... but other things

I also remmember a smell I would always smell out of the blue, when it was obvious the smell didn't exist. The smell was not distinguishable as anything, actually I wasn't even sure if it was a smell... I just smelt something. It was a smell full of character, it triggered my memory regions of my brain yet no memory would be associated with it. It was just like the sound in my head, I wan't to smell it yet was unsure if smelling it was a good thing or not.

(They say people with brain tumors somtimes have smell sensations - luckily I had a Catscan 4 years ago so I don't have that thank god)

Sounds like Tinnitus. Most people get it at some point, but its common with hearing loss too.

Its a masking signal produced by your brain to filter out ambient noise. If there is no no noise at that level, you hear it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ is the wave of a sound.. Tinnitus is exactly opposite, with the peaks and valleys canceling out the peaks and valleys of the sound. Its the principal behind those machines that reduce environmental noise.

Uhhh maybe your right! though I doubt it was tinnitus (I have had ringing in the ear, and that feels physical). , although wikipedia say's that serotonin levels can cause it.

-while I was awake I wouldn't be able to 'sustain' the duration of the sound for maore than 2 seconds if that. But when I was trying to go to sleep - just as I was going to sleep it could come on.... and I could sustain and alayse it.

....My very first experience of it I think happened when I was still in infancy.... I beleive this because everytime either the sounds or the smell would come on a nostalgia feelling would come over me.

...My very first memory of hearing the sounds cause real havock. I was up all night rocking back and forth not understanding what was going on. It was a very devilished sound the first and second times.... but by the time I was 10 it became more of a nostalgic sensation.

Yes. I have several levels of it, the loudest from years of working in a club. I was remembering just yesterday(ever notice the coincidences in WP?) how when i would stay up late reading as a teen, and i would hear it. It was like music at that time.

That got me thinking, and I remembered it from elementary school and younger. So resolved, I took a few minutes to close my eyes and listen, and sure enough, I can hear 3 or 4 distinct levels of it.

Being ill; a cold or flu, especially an ear infection can make you hear it.

Actually your right.... I think I would get bigger 'awake' spurts of it while I was sick.

-maybe it really is just titinus . thankyou. -it still seems more phscholigical though than physical. ... maybe my immune system is better now... I haven't been sick since , ohh 14, so yeah it may be just a hearing loss thing.

Nono. it doesnt have to be a hearing loss thing. And its entirely psychological. Its generated by the mind. Before it was first discovered(documented), people were declared insane, because, of course, they would put a stethoscope to the head, listen, not hear it, and declare the person crazy. No real sound is generated.

It is a way for your mind and attention to modulate; to drown out some of what happens around you.

My lowest level is a hum.. very pleasant, and the highest is a ringing. If I go out for supper, I get a mid range one from all the people talking.

geez you have to live with it constantly.

that must be hard..

i mean i used to go insane when i was young, in my later years it was just... hmm that's wierd I'm hearing that sound again..heloo

for me it never 'rang'... it's more like a bunch of cave men hitting leather in a cave... very bassy devilish qualities.




.....as for the smells - anyone get that?

Its just a ringing. maybe as loud as a computer fan.

Life is only as hard as people expect it to be.

Smells maybe but I dunno. In Summer, I smell Summer, in Winter, I smell Winter. Autumn, Autumn and so on. And it does trigger memories of that season in the previous year, but I doubt that's inside my head. Thought that was just normal.

I think what you are talking about is called an Auditory Hallucination and its actually a form of seizure activity. It can happen for various reasons and its not that uncommon.


When it comes to Olfactory Hallucinations Lyme disease is notorious for causing this. Author Amy Tan, writer of The Joy Luck Club, has written about the weird smells she experienced while suffering from Lyme disease.

if it's really quiet or there is a low-freq electrical source... i will often hear a meoldic song that bounces along to and fro... i can either sit and listen to it or i can manipulate it... add complexity to it, but never take stuff away from it once i've added it in there.

i used to hear it most when going to bed at night. doesn't sound like a ringing in the ear, just music... if i focus on it, the music can actually start to sound like a particular instument...

how do you tell if it's thin tinnitus or seizure-like activity? i've always wondered what this was..

The only thing I can think of is tinnitus.