Hymns and Childhood Songs Topped the Phantom Music 81 Patients Heard, and Hearing Loss Was Often Not the Cause

Ozempic and Zepbound Makers Report Slower Aging Clocks, but Unreviewed Data Do Not Prove Patients Age SlowerNovo Nordisk and Eli Lilly say GLP-1 drugs slowed aging clocks, but the data are early and unreviewed. Here is what patients should know. Had Gestational Diabetes or Postpartum Depression? Large Study Links Pregnancy History to Later Heart and Kidney RiskA study of 1.4 million women links pregnancy complications to later heart, diabetes, and kidney risk. What to tell your doctor at checkups. Dementia Patients Overweight or Obese at Diagnosis Had Up to 27% Lower Death Risk, Raising Caregiver Nutrition QuestionsA national study of 4,523 U.S. adults with dementia linked higher weight at diagnosis to longer survival. Here is what it means for caregivers. Nonprofit Hospitals Charging $5,500 or More for Longevity Checkups Face Questions Over Tax Breaks and Charity CareTax-exempt hospitals now sell longevity programs from $5,500 to as much as $45,000 a year. Here’s what’s included, what insurance covers, and what critics ask. Mental Health Veterans’ PTSD and Depression Relief After Ibogaine Largely Held for a Year in Small Stanford Study of 30Most veterans in a small Stanford ibogaine study kept their PTSD gains at 12 months, but the study had no control group, and heart risks remain. Hymns and Childhood Songs Topped the Phantom Music 81 Patients Heard, and Hearing Loss Was Often Not the CauseA Dutch study of people who hear music that isn’t playing found that half had no documented hearing loss, and most found the music a burden. Childhood Abuse Linked to Brain Structure Differences in 3,711 Brain Scans, with Stronger Patterns Seen in Young WomenA UCLA-led study of 3,711 brain scans links childhood abuse to brain structure differences. It shows an association, not a cause, and needs follow-up. She Loved the Smell of Bricks So Much She Started Eating Them, and Severe Iron Deficiency May Be WhyA 56-year-old woman in Portugal ground bricks into powder and ate them after their smell became irresistible. Doctors suspect low iron. Innovation Two Baby Molars Hid a Sneaky Third Root That Dentists Usually Find in Adult TeethPediatric dentists in India describe baby molars with a rare extra root usually seen in permanent teeth, a hidden variant that can derail root canals. Mismatched Extra Chest Muscles Formed an X in a 70-Year-Old Donor, a Variant That Can Pose as a Breast MassAnatomists found two mismatched sternalis muscles forming an X in a 70-year-old donor, a rare variant that can be mistaken for a breast mass. A 23-Year-Old’s Ear Scan Found Both Optic Nerves Suspended in Her Sinuses, a Rare Trap for SurgeonsA CT scan for a young woman’s ear problem showed both optic nerves running freely through her sphenoid sinus, a rare setup that raises surgical risk. NIH Tells HIV and Tuberculosis Trial Networks to Delay New Studies as Funding Renewal Notices Stall at HHSNIH told four HIV clinical trial networks to hold off on some new studies as funding renewal notices stall at HHS. Here is what it means for patients. Healthy Living Senators Give Kennedy Until Oct. 15 to Explain Task Force Shake-Up Behind Free Cancer and Blood Pressure ScreeningsSeventeen senators want HHS Secretary Kennedy to explain his overhaul of the panel behind free preventive screenings by Oct. 15. Here is what is at stake. Three in Four Louisiana SNAP Closures Were Procedural, and Families Cut Over Paperwork Can Reapply for BenefitsState data show that 75% of Louisiana SNAP losses from July 2025 to June 2026 were procedural. Here is how families can reapply and find food now. Only About 27% of Pregnant Americans Got the Maternal RSV Vaccine in Its First Year as Season NearsA new review estimates that only about 27% of pregnant Americans got the RSV vaccine in their first year. Here is how parents can protect a newborn this season. One in 16 Pet Cat Stool Samples Tested Positive for Giardia, and About 18% Carried Human-Capable StrainsA study of 157,616 cat stool samples found Giardia in 6.3% of samples, with the highest rates in kittens, Midwest cats, and during winter. Here is what cat owners should know. Covid – 19 FDA Proposes Requiring Companies to Report Food Additives That Now Reach Grocery Shelves Without Federal ReviewFDA has released its proposed GRAS rule requiring companies to notify the agency about food additives. Here is what the proposal does and does not do. Federal Regulators Warn Some Hair Dryer Brushes Lack the Part That Stops ElectrocutionCPSC warns hair dryer brushes sold on Walmart.com and TikTok Shop lack immersion protection. The seller has not agreed to a recall or refund. A Recalled Teething Toy Broke the Pattern Parents Were Told to Look ForA newly recalled pull-string teething toy has a different model number and design from earlier recalls, and one choking incident has been reported. Trying to Lower Blood Sugar, Cholesterol or Blood Pressure? Different Workouts Suited Different MarkersA pooled analysis of 53 trials found that different exercise types helped different metabolic markers. Most of the evidence was low certainty. Editorial Illustration via AI Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pocket People who hear music that isn’t playing are usually pictured as older adults with hearing loss whose brains fill the silence with song. A detailed look at 81 patients in the Netherlands suggests that picture leaves a lot out.

Half of the patients analyzed had no documented history of hearing loss. Hearing loss on its own was the main explanation in only about 21% of cases, while a psychiatric condition alone accounted for about 41%. And when patients described what they heard, religious music came up most often, followed closely by childhood songs and pop songs.

The findings were published online July 6, 2026, in the Journal of Neurology.

The data come from the Dutch MuHa Study, which enrolled people with musical hallucinations from 2010 to 2023 at Parnassia Psychiatric Hospital, working with Haga Hospital in The Hague. Patients were referred by specialists across the Netherlands. The paper’s first author is Daphne L. Kerklaan of the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, and its authors include psychiatrist Jan Dirk Blom and neurologist Jan Adriaan Coebergh, who works at hospitals in Chertsey and London.

Of 81 people enrolled, 80 were included in the analysis. Their average age was 65, and about 59% were women.

Many had lived with the music for a long time. Among the 35 patients who could recall when it began, about eight years on average had passed before they entered the study. Nearly half were referred by psychiatry services, about 18% by neurology, and 10% by general practitioners.

The study adds to a growing body of reports that challenge the classic profile. A 2026 case report in the American Journal of Audiology described a 19-year-old woman with normal hearing and no psychiatric or neurological abnormalities who had heard vivid, complex music for two years.

Patients mentioned 155 kinds of music in total. Religious music made up 18.1% of those mentions, while childhood songs and popular songs each made up 16.8%.

That pattern echoes earlier work. A 2015 review of 393 Mayo Clinic patients linked persistent religious or patriotic music to neurodegenerative disease and to isolated hearing impairment.

In the Dutch group, about three-quarters of patients heard familiar music. Among those, more than half heard only music from early in life, while about 12% heard only recently learned music. Roughly 19% heard only music they did not recognize.

Most patients (56.3%) perceived the music as coming from inside their head, 27.5% heard it as coming from outside, and 10% experienced both.

The music rarely came alone. Nearly 44% of patients reported hallucinations or perceptual distortions involving other senses, most often vision. Sixteen of them had these experiences in several senses, up to six. Tinnitus affected 40%, and 25% also heard voices. The authors called the high rates of tinnitus and multisensory hallucinations a notable new finding. By contrast, 13 of the 17 patients whose only identified cause was hearing loss reported no additional phenomena.

Hearing loss alone was the main explanation in 21.3% of patients. Another 21.3% had hearing loss combined with structural brain changes, most often small strokes called lacunar infarcts or severe changes in the brain’s white matter. Structural brain changes alone accounted for just 3.8%.

A psychiatric condition alone was identified in 41.3% of patients. Within that group, 41% had a psychotic disorder and 33.3% had depression.

Hearing loss has long been seen as the main trigger, with the brain thought to generate music when it is deprived of sound. The authors wrote that “50.0% of the participants reported musical hallucinations despite having no documented history of hearing loss.” Part of the hearing loss count relied on hearing aid use rather than formal testing, which adds some uncertainty.

The researchers discussed several possible explanations, including the brain releasing stored sounds, the effects of reduced sensory input, and seizure-like network activity, along with a “predictive coding” model that combines elements of all three. Only one patient showed epileptic-type abnormalities on an EEG.

An earlier report from the same cohort, published in 2023 in Frontiers in Psychiatry, focused on five patients who lost insight into the music and developed delusions about it. All five were older women with hearing impairment and cognitive impairment, and hearing aids did not stop their hallucinations.

For most patients, the experience was unwelcome. About 65% called the music burdensome, 18.8% said it was sometimes burdensome, and only 12.5% found it agreeable. More than two-thirds (67.5%) had no conscious control over it.

Listening to the radio, TV, or other sound temporarily helped 22.5% of patients. A quarter said humming or singing along made the music more bearable, though it did not change the hallucinations. None of the participants reported a lasting benefit from any strategy.

The Dutch results contrast with a small 2025 Korean series in the Journal of International Advanced Otology. There, all nine patients had hearing loss and repeatedly heard one to three songs, for an average of 5.4 years.

The Dutch study has important limits. Patients came from a single psychiatric outpatient setting, so the results may not apply to people seen in hearing or neurology clinics. The questionnaire used was not validated, and the long gap between onset and assessment raises the risk of imperfect recall. The analyses were exploratory, and the sample was small.

The authors concluded that musical hallucinations often occur alongside tinnitus and other sensory experiences, and that many patients have more than one underlying cause. Because the music is so often burdensome and hard to control, they called for more research into how it arises and how to treat it. Anyone who hears persistent music that others cannot hear should talk with a clinician, who may recommend hearing tests and, when appropriate, neurological or psychiatric evaluation.

What are musical hallucinations? They are perceptions of music with no external source. The music can be a familiar song or a melody the person does not recognize.

What did the Dutch study find? Among 80 patients analyzed, hearing loss alone explained about 21% of cases, a psychiatric condition alone about 41%, and many patients also had tinnitus or hallucinations in other senses.

What kind of music do people hear? Religious music, childhood songs, and popular songs were mentioned most often, and many patients heard only music from early in life.

Is hearing loss the main cause? It plays a role in many cases, but half of the patients in this study had no documented history of hearing loss.

Can musical hallucinations be treated? No strategy gave lasting relief in this study. Background sound helped some people temporarily, and singing along made the music more bearable for others.

What are the study’s limits? Patients came from one psychiatric setting, the questionnaire was not validated, recall may have been imperfect, and the analyses were exploratory.