Auditory Hallucinations and Sensory Impairment
Summary
Auditory hallucinations encompass the perception of sounds or voices in the absence of corresponding external stimuli. They occur across a spectrum of conditions, notably among individuals with peripheral sensory loss, psychiatric disorders or neurological injury. In hearing impairment, reduced afferent input can precipitate spontaneous activity in central auditory pathways, giving rise to simple phenomena such as tinnitus or more complex experiences including speech and musical hallucinations. Similarly, drug interactions, neurodegenerative changes and focal lesions along the auditory pathway can unmask latent networks in the temporal cortex, leading to vivid perceptual events. Although traditionally associated with psychosis, auditory hallucinations in sensory impairment represent a distinct clinical and neurobiological entity with implications for diagnosis, rehabilitation and quality of life. Advances in neuroimaging, electrophysiology and psychopharmacology have begun to elucidate the functional circuits and neurotransmitter imbalances underpinning these experiences, opening avenues for targeted interventions and adaptive coping strategies.
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Auditory Hallucinations and Sensory Impairment publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in auditory hallucinations and sensory impairment across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Auditory hallucination: Perception of sound or voices in the absence of an external auditory source.
Musical hallucination: A subtype of auditory hallucination characterised by the perception of melodies, songs or rhythmic patterns without actual music present.
Deafferentation: Loss or reduction of sensory input to the central nervous system, often due to peripheral organ damage or degradation.
Functional connectivity: Statistical association between activity in distinct brain regions, reflecting coordinated neural signalling.
References
- Drug-induced musical hallucination. Frontiers in Pharmacology (2024).
- Fronto-Temporal Circuits in Musical Hallucinations: A PET-MR Case Study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2018).
- Spontaneous brain activity underlying auditory hallucinations in the hearing-impaired. Cortex (2021).
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