Frequently Seen But Rarely Diagnosed: Musical Ear Syndrome.

Abstract

Musical ear syndrome (MES) is a condition that causes patients with hearing impairment to have non-psychiatric auditory hallucinations. In advanced age, it could be confused with dementia. In addition, MES is suggested to be a variant of Charles Bonnet syndrome (visual hallucinations in visually impaired patients) by some authors (1). Although its mechanism is unknown, secondary to hearing loss, phantom sounds are thougt to be caused by hypersensitivity in the auditory cortex associated with sensory deprivation (2,3). Hallucinations are usually musical in nature and can range from popular music, orchestral symphonies, or radio tunes.