How to fix music-induced sickness

KeyScourge

I'ts been a slight problem throughout my whole life, but recently i've been finding that when I listen to a large ammount of songs I find myself feeling really queesy and feel like i'm going to be sick. It seems a really weird thing to have happen since music shouldn't really be able to make someone feel ill, but it does.

And since more and more of the songs I regularly listen to are beginning to have this effect on me I'm really beginning to get desperate for a way to make it so that I don't end up wretching whenever I hear some of my favourite songs.

Can any of you possibly suggest why this might be happening, and how I could possibly stop it please? Cheers

Richard M. Nixon

Does it happen with all music at all times? If you're listening with headphones or something, that might explain it. I've never heard of such a thing, though.

Post Blue

Are you a musician? Is it possible that you are experiencing some intellectual exhaustion from following the sonic dynamics so closely, the stress from which your body could be rerouting into physical nausea?

And yes, it's important to know whether you are using headphones. I've experienced that same feeling -- like car-sickness -- when listening to quality headphones for prolonged periods.

KeyScourge

It's only certain songs, and not even all the time. Sometimes I can listen to them, other times I can't because of a queesy feeling.

And I'm using earphones. Not proper high-quality ones, but not cheap tatty ones from ASDA either

Asiina

I get this sometimes when I'm trying to think about too much at once. The music becomes too much mental noise and it makes me feel sick.

Try listening to music without words and see if that helps. I used to have a playlist just for studying that was entirely instrumental, since listening to music with words while reading never works out.

And try listening without headphones so it's not just pounding in your head.

Although honestly, usually just turning off the music for a while helps.

Richard M. Nixon

If they're earbuds (like, in-ears) it might be mucking with your inner ear. I get sore sometimes but the pressure imbalance could be messing with your cochleas.

Post Blue

I think the no lyrics suggestion is a good one. Pull the headphones out and listen to this through some speakers instead.

EggyToast

It's probably headphones and a combination of overly-compressed songs. I don't mean compressed in the mp3 sense, I mean in the acoustic sense. It's well-known to cause ear fatigue, and one symptom of ear fatigue is a general queasyness or dizziness.

Red Hot Chilli Pepper's "Californication" is a well-known overcompressed album, for example. The short explanation is that they use a filter that reduces the loudness of loud sounds, and then raise up the overall level of the rest of the sounds. Do it to extremes and you have an extremely flat soundwave, which most people associate with white noise (and since you don't pay attention to white noise, it doesn't cause the same kind of fatigue).

Are you using earbuds or headphones? One simple way of addressing this is to get some open-air circumaural headphones -- that's a fancy way of saying headphones that go around your ear, rather than on your ear, and that aren't sealed off to exclude all outside noise. They let you hear incidental noise in your surroundings, which reduces the fatigue from listening to music at close proximity to your ears over longer periods of time. It also should reduce fatigue from overcompressed songs.

Assuming that's actually what the problem is, although it sounds like a classic case. Can you pick out some specific songs? We may even be able to suggest headphones, if you'd be interested in giving it a shot.

useless4

The band Element (Elemental?) 101 does this to me. Everytime.

I get car sick like feeling from just listening the band. Doesn't matter if i am sitting down laying down or moving. I really like the band, just upsets me physically to listen to anything off this particular cd. even if I don't realize it is from this cd, like if it's on shuffle and a song just happens to come on, I get the same effects.

But only this band. Strange eh?

Leggraphics

As mentioned - probably the air pressure involved in having earphones or headphones on, try listening to music from just speakers and dont have it up so loud. If that is still an issue then your speakers might be faulty and giving off high frequency notes that you might not be able to hear but make you feel sick. Some higher frequencies and lower can make you feel queazy.

As mentioned - I am a musician and I sometimes get massive headaches listening to crappy music, music that is out of pitch or just jump around allot and make no sense because my head tries to comprehend and translate what I am listening to. Slower music, Not classical ( to emotional) but maybe lounge or something like Gotan Project might be an option just to see if it is the type of music.

Otherwise, get your hearing checked, If it hasn't happened all the time maybe you have an inner ear infection and have a build up of pressure in there causing sound waves to distort and hurting you. Either way, if its from low volume speakers and it still hurts chances are you might be sick.

Gihgehls

Eggy makes good points. Listening to white noise for long enough WILL actually give you listening fatigue, as will listening to a sine wave for too long.

KeyScourge

EggyToast wrote: »

Can you pick out some specific songs?

The most recent one I've noticed that does it is "Waiting For The Miracle" by Leonard Cohen

min ki

I usually get sick when I'm listening to American music. I only listen to k-pop but when I'm around my family they listen to American music I feels like when I'm in the car and I get car sick it feels like that but worse I don't know what's wrong with me.