Hearing Things: When Sounds Come Unbidden

It's the recording problem involved in what we perceive.

Nothing is truly forgotten, but if it is not frequently "remembered", which reinforces the associated neurone synapses, that memory is put into "deep storage".

In the case of Cheryl C. because of input lack, some old "forgotten" recordings decided to surface.

There is no problem with that, just that for her, at the time, it was a real shock.

The advertising jingle writers always try for a memorable ditty and tune which embeds deeply into the "deep memory storage bank", as well as into the recent storage bank, so that, try as you might, it never really fades away.

The hearing system is incredibly well designed, and the way we perceive sounds, and are able to recall a voice or intonation years later, is remarkable.

Kind Regards....

Hi Sparky.

Nice explaination! The other day while on the bus a tune I first heard and remembered when I was five years old suddenly popped into my head, it was Glen Miller playing "Chatanooga Choo Choo" with vocals. It was as clear as if someone was playing it on the bus, so I guess you are right when you say that we never really forget things? Anyway, as soon as I got off the bus I went and bought a Glen Miller CD with it on! Brilliant!

Spencer.

I actually hard this report n NPR the other day. What was interesting was not that Cheryl C. remembered and replayed the tunes (and other noises) but that she actually thought she really heard them.

We all use our internal stereo to remember and play back sounds. Happens all the time. Like Sparkstation said, this is a goal of advertisers and jingle writers.

This case is more amazing because the woman really thought she heard a fire engine, really thought she heard the music being played. What apparently was happening was that part of her brain was under stimulated due to her deafness and was compensating for the lack of stimulus and fooling the rest of the brain into thinking something was going on. Sort of like the boy crying "Wolf!"

This is of interest to me as I am gradually losing my hearing. Right now, it is a mild loss and persistent tinnitus, but I wonder what it may become.

"I mean, by the nature of things, there cannot be anything random in the mind. You know, there must be determinance," Sacks says.

I'm not so sure I agree with this statement. I haven't the time presently, nor the inclination particularly, to refute the statement. However, unless I am totally different (and I do not discount that possibility...) than everyone else here, I think you can recall situations when within your own minds something that could best be described as a 'random thought' was present. Perhaps many such events. Think about it non-randomly and share the results.

I think we never really forget anything. We just forget how to remember it. or in my case where I put it in memory. It's all there but where? I personally have an ole' time stack memory, as the new info comes in the older stuff falls out of the bottom. I just turned 40 this month and I'd say from 1st thru 5th grade has now fallen out of the stack. That being way off topic, what of the new "sound beam drivers" that are being used in advertising.Where the sound is beamed straight to you head. could that possibly enable the deaf to hear?