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Do you know someone who says they don’t like music? Someone who doesn’t own a single CD or an iPod? Are they always turning the radio down? And when pressed on the subject, do they shrug and say they don’t really “get” music? Never could quite figure that person out, could you? Your friend’s weird lack of taste could be the result of melophobia (fear of music), a little-understood but very real neurophysiological condition. People with melophobia have particular physical characteristics that make them unusually sensitive to sudden changes in pitch and tone. Music is, not surprisingly, one of the most concentrated forms of this sort of stimulus. And music is all around us. Scary! Even scarier, perhaps, is musicogenic epilepsy, a very real condition in which music can bring on intense seizures. We wanted to know more about music being a demonic force of tangible fear and pain, so we talked to a doctor who deals with people who suffer from these conditions, a melophobia patient, and a woman with musicogenic epilepsy. Strap on your noise-canceling earphones and read on… Dr. Marsha Johnson, audiologist and clinical director at the Oregon Tinnitus & Hyperacusis Clinic, has treated those who suffer from melophobia, and the conditions that lead to this perplexing phobia, for 13 years. We recently spoke with her. Vice: So, melophobia actually exists. Dr. Marsha Johnson: Yes, it does. Often it is a condition induced by a negative encounter with music or musical instruments, like a loud concert that produced tinnitus or ear ringing in a person for several weeks. This could be so frightening and disturbing that the person would avoid all concerts from that point forward. Another example is the professional musician who plays near a loud instrument and, over time, develops severe hyperacusis [sound sensitivity] and suffers pain afterward, which intensifies with each exposure. Eventually, the professional stops playing music altogether. Are tinnitus and hyperacusis the main causes of melophobia? In most cases, I would say yes. More specifically, the most likely cause of these conditions are loud sound waves that crash right through the middle-ear system, which includes the tender, thin membrane of the eardrum as well as a very tiny chain of bones that includes movable joints, cartilage, tendons, and muscles, all of which can be strained, sprained, or overextended. How do these conditions cause the experience of listening to music to be painful for the person? Along with severe tinnitus—the type that can keep you awake for months and make you totally unable to concentrate—hyperacusis can be painful and provoke headaches or even eye or jaw pain. So the avoidance of the stimulus leads to the avoidance of sound, which leads to the avoidance of music, and then melophobia sets in. Is melophobia curable? Well, tinnitus has no cure at this time but there are some wonderful management programs for improving the loudness, intrusion, and negative impact of tinnitus. This includes Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), which was developed by Dr. Pawel Jastreboff, and Neuromonics Oasis therapy, which was developed by Dr. Paul Davis. These are the two most-used tinnitus treatments in the world at this time. Hyperacusis can be improved, most of the time, with proper desensitization therapy using Jastreboff’s TRT principles, and then the person is often able to recover from fear of music or musical events and begin to enjoy this important part of life again. Please outline for me how we get from tinnitus and hyperacusis to melophobia. Most people who have had a serious encounter with tinnitus or hyperacusis are quite motivated to avoid whatever seemed to have triggered it. So melophobia is a real concern among this population and, to some extent, quite rational. Those who have damaged the hearing cells in their cochlea are going to have persistent permanent hearing loss, and this can lead to phobias and avoidance beyond a reasonable scope of practice. I had a male patient from Chicago last year who had been a drummer. He quit his band and used earplugs all the time, running away from noisy buses and never accepting party invitations. But he was actually making his own situation worse through overprotection! Melophobia patients must often be counseled and supported to overcome irrational beliefs. One important fact to keep in mind is that many people with tinnitus or hyperacusis do not have significant hearing loss, and perhaps just a very mild case. The online video documentaries and Interviews from Around the World. Music culture, videos, latest music news and reviews. Balled up and put into a website.
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