Mother hears music, but no one is listening to a radio or CD. How do I handle this?

chdottir, good point about noises from appliances.

I can fully understand the humming from electrical devices around the house. So many of our modern electrical devices are on "stand by" so there will be a slight hum unless it is unplugged. I can hear those hums but my sig other cannot.

Even the K-cup machine has a hum, that probably only I and the cats can hear. Florescent lights create the same humming noise. I can even hear my desk top computer, which is under my desk, hum. And, of course, the refrigerator has a variety of sounds :P

Long ago I remember some people would get music and talk radio from their dental fillings.

Wonder if the sound could also be tinnitus? A ringing in the ears. I have that, but have had it so long that I don't even pay attention.

Yeah, the best thing to do when she mentions the music is to just go along with it and redirect. Something along the lines of...

Mom: That music kept me up all night. Will you tell your son to stop playing his music so loud?
Me: Sorry about the music Mom, I'll be sure to say something to him ok? So what would you like on your pancakes this morning? Just syrup or some fruit to go with it?

She's going to forget the conversation anyway so it doesn't really matter what you say, just as long as you don't argue, but agree. Be on her side, accept her reality. Make her feel understood. You know what the truth is, but it isn't going to matter to her, just that you believe her and that you're going to take care of the situation.

This skill will be useful for a lot of situations you'll encounter, not just auditory hallucinations. My mom often asks where her husband (who passed almost 5 years ago) went. I just matter of factly say, "oh, he just went outside for a walk" or if she is skeptical of that, I might say, "hmmm, I don't know, I'll go look for him in a few minutes, ok?"

When she starts to go on about "going home" I'll say, Ok, that sounds good, let's talk about that after this show. Or maybe, "sure mom, but remember you're staying the night with me tonite. Want some ice cream?"

Google validation for dementia and you'll find a lot of info about this technique. It really works to help reduce agitation and anxiety, not just in them, but in us as caregivers.

Misslolita is your mother taking any pain relief medications? I ask because a build-up can cause auditory hallucinations - my mother thought someone was ringing a church bell at eleven at night and got very annoyed about it.

In any case, you should report this to your mother's doctor - it could have any number of causes and wants checking out.

Lolita, you cannot reason with dementia. A CD of music she like may serve as a distraction, redirection and may even be comforting to her.

Update on mother. She doesn't use a hearing aid. I'll have her be checked for hydrocephalus. I can't give her a cd of music because it's only one song she hears. I turned off the fan, heater and other electrical items and no change. She said the music was coming from the upstares bedroom so I asked her to go with me to check but she didn't want to go. I told her she was the only one that heard the music, she then just looked at me and didn't talk for the rest of the day??? She's been sleeping all day. I'm a prisoner in my own house. She'll get mad if I make any noises so I stay in my bedroom. I'm so sad and mad at the same time. Thank you all.

When my mom quit drinking (30+ years ago, long before old age and dementia), she said that she heard beautiful music coming out of the walls of her apartment, every night, for about a week. She'd start to hear it when she was coming up the hill towards the apartment, after work. She found out later it was the DTs.

Did your mom recently change any medications? Could she be having withdrawal symptoms from something?

Once my mother asked me when I was going to turn the opera music off. There was no music being played. There was maybe a slight hum happening from some appliance at the time. I think her brain was just misinterpreting signals. It hasn't happened again, so I can't be any help in coming up with solutions.

misslolita, does your Mom wear a hearing aid by chance? Why I am asking is back years ago when my Mom had received her new hearing aid, she was hearing "talk radio", and I knew exactly what was happening.

I was having issues with talk radio bleeding into my landline, usually between certain hours. Most annoying. Eventually the talk radio went away from Mom's hearing aid, and on my landlines... apparently it was a frequency issue.

Buy a CD with music she will enjoy. It probably will not matter if it is not what she has been hearing in her head.

Oh...have her checked for hydrocephalus.

Seriously, my Dad heard noises all the time. He never told his doctor. Last year when I first came to help my parents....I told his doctor about the noise in his head. The scan showed hydrocephalus... untreated for years. The brain damage was irreversible by then.

Have this checked out.