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.
