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I live in a very old and very poorly ventilated house without the luxury of central air conditioning. Recently on an extremely hot night I went to bed with several ceiling and floor fans running, as well as a small window air conditioner. Add to that the bane of my existence- a very loud tinnitus. As I lay in my bed ruminating on prayers, thoughts, ideas, I thought I was beginning to hear whispering. As the turbulent air buffeted my ear drums and the tinnitus added it's own special evil din I began to focus on what I began to think were voices. "Voices", thought I, "hey now, I'm not interested in hearing spirits or voices or whatever...". I started to listen intently and realized my brain was attempting to create coherent sound out of the auditory chaos that was a result of loud fans, motors and that's right, f'ing tinnitus. I quickly stopped paying attention to the noise, readjusted my head on the pillow and lo, the "voices" were gone. It's amazing how the brain works to make sense of the world around it; now this experience makes me wonder if the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenics are assembled in the same manner.

I live in a very old and very poorly ventilated house without the luxury of central air conditioning. Recently on an extremely hot night I went to bed with several ceiling and floor fans running, as well as a small window air conditioner. Add to that the bane of my existence- a very loud tinnitus. As I lay in my bed ruminating on prayers, thoughts, ideas, I thought I was beginning to hear whispering. As the turbulent air buffeted my ear drums and the tinnitus added it's own special evil din I began to focus on what I began to think were voices. "Voices", thought I, "hey now, I'm not interested in hearing spirits or voices or whatever...". I started to listen intently and realized my brain was attempting to create coherent sound out of the auditory chaos that was a result of loud fans, motors and that's right, *f'ing tinnitus*. I quickly stopped paying attention to the noise, readjusted my head on the pillow and lo, the "voices" were gone. It's amazing how the brain works to make sense of the world around it; now this experience makes me wonder if the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenics are assembled in the same manner.

6 comments

makes me wonder if the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenics are assembled in the same manner.

This is just speculation on my part, but I grew up around a schizophrenic. I think it is similar, but one important difference. Your brain was trying to make sense out of random noise. It turned them into voices because that was a similar sound to what you were hearing. A schizophrenic does it the other way around, their brain has a hallucination already chosen, and is looking for something to project it on.

At least that's how it seemed to me. All of her hallucinations were based off the same theme.

[–] Owlchemy 0 points (+0|-0)

Good thought, and you may be right. I've had the same experiences of my lifetime. Those barely audible sounds that appear to be speech, or even music, yet you can never zero in on it. It always does drive ya batty at first, trying to decipher the indecipherable.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

Like when I was a kid in the 60's and people told me they received music on their mercury amalgam tooth fillings! It's an unsettling experience.

[–] Owlchemy 0 points (+0|-0)

Yes it is ... and I remember those days, too. People picking up radio via fillings. How the world has changed.

Very well put together story you have here. I'm sorry you have tinnitus, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Does it cause you migraines?

And speaking from a slight experience on schizo's, the "voices" that are heard are more like thoughts or persuasions. They turn into full fledged voices when you suddenly realize that these thoughts aren't "yours" so to speak. I don't have it, but my father does and he describes them vividly to me in this way.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

Thanks for the reply. The tinnitus I have used to go away, now it is loud and constant; I found out recently that people actually commit suicide because of tinnitus. I don't think I'd ever do that but, it makes you want to scream sometimes... Sounds like your dad understands his illness and has great insight; probably having a loving and supportive family around him makes an enormous positive impact on his overall well being. I recently learned about "stochastic Turing patterns" while trying to understand my moment of noisy chaos; it gave me a bit of understanding but I'm not sure if applying a visual neural response to an auditory one is even possible.