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In (I think) a slightly related topic, I sometimes listen to white noise when sleeping on the bus. I've noticed that I'll hear voices as I drift off to sleep - they sort of coalesce from the static and as I start focusing on the voices they disappear. I think it's my brain trying to make sense of the input, and as I start going to sleep the "reigns go free".

Sort of eerie. (No, I don't hear voices when I'm not listening to white noise).

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This happens to me with the sound of running water even when I am fully awake, especially when I am expecting an important sound. For example, if I am in the shower and expecting an important call on the phone, I often get a feeling that the phone is ringing. But it's just my brain trying to be super alert and picking up noise as signals. If I turn off the water, the sounds go off.

I think that is hypnagogia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia. And it doesn't necessarily require environmental noise to be triggered. There's a lot of material out there on it being linked to lucid dreaming.

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