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Comment by zimpenfish | Hacker News Reader

A running bath or shower will sometimes trigger "I can hear vague people talking type noises" for me (and has for decades) - not to the point of actually hearing voices with distinguishable words though, it's always just the vague "there's people nearby talking". Which can be really creepy if you're the only person in the house...

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I have aphantasia, so when I close my eyes most of the time I see nothing.

But sounds - on queue I can "pull up" a song and play it in my head - full orchestra, guitars, etc. I'm not very musically talented by my brain certainly runs on sound vs vision.

When I'm in the shower sometimes (like this) I'll hear something like a shout or a voice - it occasionally happens randomly too in other situations - but I certainly don't think it's some discarnate spirit - there is usually something else to accompany it and I assume it's my brain filling in the rest.

> I have aphantasia

Also.

> on queue I can "pull up" a song and play it in my head

But I also do not have that. Starting to feel a bit short-changed here.

This actually pretty accurately describes what goes on inside my head - no pictures, but a life soundtrack.

The "voice" in the noise is unintelligible, so I figure I'm safe until it starts to tell me to do things I should not.

I hear singing, voices and a lot more in the shower. Sometimes a complete orchestra; I have tinnitus from damage (black metal frontman for decades) and a very active imagination. I like to listen to it. Sometimes when we are on a long trip and I don’t have to drive, I hear the same in the air conditioner. I enjoy it.

I get the same with white noise - and also with complete silence. Sitting by the weir on the river works too. I hear symphonies. Beautiful renditions of Rachmaninov, etc. - I find it rather interesting that there are evidently chunks of my brain dedicated to storing music at perfect fidelity - or at least it seems so.

Have you ever taken hallucinogens?

I have always had the same with the sound of lawnmowers, since I was a kid. There was no difference before or after the time in my life that I tried hallucinogens.

I did and my affliction makes the effect so much better than I hear from friends. A glass of shroom tea taken outside has me see full armadas with theatrical music marching through the skies. LSD well, I haven’t taken it for 30 years because I have with shrooms what others have with lsd, just a lot shorter.

Not a single one. Only alcohol (rarely) and caffeine (frequently) that would be counted as "drugs".

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