Re: sounds in your head [another view of tinitus]

[Kevin <kevin@minds-eye.org>]

What I always found most interesting in meditation were those moments when 
I would
be jolted by the sound of very loud gong-like tones.  They sounded 
identical to
'real' sounds out in the world but they came only from inside my head.

It always struck me as an example of the brain/mind's power to recreate
sensorially 'real' experiences with no external stimulus (much like 
dreaming).  If
only I could tap THAT as my primary instrument :-)

Its like Hendrix said once (and I paraphrase)

"Its such a drag playing with these strings and all so tonight I'm just 
going to
play like they're not there"

Kevin

David Myers wrote:

> A few years back I took a poll of friends and acquaintances (and even 
>this
> list) concerning this question; the varied responses I received were 
>quite
> interesting.  There are certainly "sourceless" sounds present in the
> organism which have nothing to do with ear damage, and I have often 
>referred
> my friends to Cage's observation.  My conclusion is that, apart from
> tinitus--which must certainly be very real and problematic for certain
> people--there are interior sounds which always exist.  They are 
>probably, as
> Harvard had it, the nervous system and circulatory system--and a few 
>things
> else besides.  In very quiet environments I have been able to detect at
> least these bands and perhaps also a third which I almost want to 
>describe
> as "muscular".  People familiar with meditative practice seem most 
>inclined
> to know of these sounds, but even the most quiet and introspective
> individuals sometimes profess complete ignorance of them.  It is a bit 
>of a
> puzzle.  I even see in myself that at times I hear the sounds and at 
>other
> times do not; it depends on where my attention is focused.  If I actively
> look for the sound, it is there.  Most curiously: men report the 
>awareness
> of this much more often than women!
>
> David Lee Myers
>
> on 6/20/01 8:37 PM, Travis Hartnett at tiktok@sprintmail.com wrote:
>
> > The BBC site has a summary of a documentary they're running on Radio4 
>on
> > experimental music.  There's a few audio clips of interviews, one of 
>which
> > is with John Cage telling the story of his first visit to Harvard's 
>anechoic
> > chamber, which to his surpise didn't *sound* silent when he was in it. 
> You
> > can listen to the Realaudio clip if you'd like, but for the
> > bandwidth-limited, he told one of the Harvard guys that something was 
>wrong
> > with the "silent" room, because he heard two sounds in it--one very 
>high,
> > the other very low.  Harvard's answer was that the high tone was the 
>sound
> > of his nervous system, and the low tone was that of his circulatory 
>system.
> >
> > http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental.shtml
> >
> >
> > TH