Musical hallucinations are perceptions of music without an external source. Approximately 500 publications on this topic have appeared over the past 35 years. Prior literature has largely consisted of case reports and small series, with only limited systematic studies on the characterisation of mixed pathology, relation to hearing loss, spatial localisation, and multimodal features.
Audiologists encountering patients who report hearing phantom music should be aware of the broad clinical profile described here and consider referral for neurological evaluation, particularly in older patients with hearing loss; no practice algorithm change is warranted from this descriptive study alone.
Musical hallucinations are underrecognised in audiology practice, and this largest systematic characterisation to date may improve differential diagnosis and prompt appropriate interdisciplinary referral.
- 01Study characterised musical hallucinations in 81 patients using ~500 publications over 35 years.
- 02Provides the most detailed clinical profile of this condition to date, published in J Neurol.
- 03Hearing loss is a commonly associated factor in musical hallucination cases.
- 04Differential diagnosis must exclude psychiatric, neurological, and pharmacological causes.
- 05The study is descriptive/observational; no interventions were tested.
Musical hallucinations can be characterised by a detailed, consistent clinical profile across a large case series.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42406125
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00415-026-13958-z.
- Journal
- Journal of Neurology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Sample size
- 81
- Population
- 81 patients with musical hallucinations; supplemented by review of ~500 publications over 35 years
- Intervention
- Detailed clinical characterisation of musical hallucinations
Primary outcomes
Clinical characteristics and demographic profiles of musical hallucination patients; Associated medical and audiological conditions