People who hear voices have a better ear. It might seem like a play on words, but no. Having had an episode of auditory hallucinations is related to having a finer ear. This has been proven by scientists from the University of London and Durham.
To do this, they performed a simple experiment with 17 people with a history of auditory hallucinations and another 17 who had never suffered from this symptom.
Both groups had to listen to ‘sinusoidal waves’, a sound similar to that of an ‘alien’. Normally people cannot discriminate the words uttered in that recording unless those who listen to it receive orders to pay attention to the appearance of certain words.
Well, people with a history of auditory hallucinations could understand what this recording said to a greater extent than ‘normal’ people. 75% of the first group was able to understand what was said versus 47% of the other group of people.
In addition, the scientists monitored this entire process through brain magnetic resonance and saw that the areas involved in the detection of sounds had greater activity in people who recognized it better, that is, in people who had had some type of auditory hallucination.
Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Dr. Ben Anderson, one of the coordinators of the study, says that the brain of these people is “more alert” to perceive sounds with meaning. “This is a very exciting explanation of how unusual experiences are also connected to everyday processes,” says Professor Sophie Scott, who is also in charge of the research.
