Off and on my Mother (84) hears men singing nice music with nice voices and an orchestra in the background. What does this mean?

Any changes of medication? - is my only other thought. My mother heard church bells about 36 hours after she started on oxycodone - she wasn't metabolising it well and built up an overdose, so that was another pain relief option out the window.

At least she's hearing something agreeable!

She doesn't have hearing aids. She tried them, but they triggered her vertigo. Good suggestions from all of you. I wonder if it has something to do with her inner ear after getting all of your thoughts. Thank you very much. I learn something new all the time and I love it. Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Rainmom, thanks for the laugh :)

Actually when my Mom complained about the talk radio she was hearing, I understood.... as late in the afternoon one of my landline phones will pick up a news station so you will hear it in the background while on the phone.

And many years ago, my police/fire scanner would do the same thing. Gosh decades ago I could hear telephone conversations if the person was using what was back then new technology, a cellphone [the phones were the size of a brick].

You might want to try a different doctor. You might also want to consider having her hearing checked, just to make sure there's no infection or something. I'm not sure if something like that might cause her to hear nonexistent sounds, but older people aren't always able to take care of their ears as well as they did when younger, so it's possible there's something amiss there.

But I would seriously consider going to a different doctor as the one you mentioned doesn't seem very willing to explore alternate diagnoses. Perhaps a neurologist might help? I'll defer to those who have more experience with dementia diagnoses.

It may be something as simple as musical ears. This happens when people start to lose their hearing and can hear things like music that seems very real. I've not heard of it being so complex, though. I think its mainly refrains playing over and over again.

Personally I get crickets. They drive me crazy. I guess you can say that I have musical ears, but it is the music that crickets make. Ack!

Please forgive me freqflyer, if I am being inappropriate - but I got a giggle out of your moms hearing aids picking up talk radio. It reminded me of a childhood favorite TV show - remember the one when Gilligan was picking up radio through his fillings? I imagine the first few times mom said something about it to you, you'd really thought she'd lost it! I don't know which would have been worse - Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh!

For my Mom, it was her hearing aid picking up a talk radio show. Once her hearing aid was in for maintenance that problem went away.

Yes, auditory hallucinations can be part of dementia. As Pam points out, they can be something else, too.

It sounds to me like your mom needs a doctor who takes your reported symptoms seriously. I wonder if taking her to a geriatrician is called for at this point.

In general, hallucinations as part of dementia do not need to be treated unless they are disturbing to the person having them. You might say, "This is probably a medical condition that lets you enjoy the good music while I can't. I'm glad the music is good. Just enjoy it!"

Tell the MD about the audio hallucinations. He may change his mind. In the meantime, just keep a log of when this happens and how long it lasts. My grandfather had similar experiences with kidney failure.