Sounds of Sleep - hypnogogic, hypnopompic and sleep paralysis

Sounds of Sleep Paralysis: I have experienced sleep paralysis for some six to seven years now of various intensities and increasing frequency. About two years ago I began taking notice of the sounds relating to being in this state of sleep, and over the past year these sounds have become quite intense at times. I tend to hear electrical noises, like very loud, very intense static electricity taking over my head. The more I listen the louder it gets to the point it borders on more of a feeling than it does a noise. I have considered this may be pure hallucination, or perhaps a noise reflecting my internal state - so i may feel electrically charged and my thoughts be clouded with static. I'm still unsure though.

Recently, before a bout of sleep paralysis whilst I was still awake and doing stuff but sat on the bed I heard a strange humming in my room. My music was on quiet so I thought it was some loud part breaking through so I turned the stereo off but the noise continued and the humming seemed to be going up in pitch a couple of times and then back down again. I even turned the stereo off at the wall in case it was some interference but the noise carried on for about five minutes then subsided. I went to bed an hour or two later and during my sleep paralysis, amidst the loud static noise a dainty voice kept breaking through just saying 'hi', but this only served to freak me out even more - The two incidents may be unrelated but thought i'd throw it out there incase anyone's experienced anything similar.

I did go on to read about 'the hum' online after i'd woken up properly, but though it sounds somewhat similar nothing accounts for the alterations in pitch.

Sounds of Hypnogogia: (the experience of the transitional states to and from sleep) With regards to this, I have heard sounds upon falling asleep as long as I can remember. Often I will experience the loud bangs like fireworks, knocking, gun shots etc often associated with this state, but equally as often I will hear random snippets of people speaking. I've heard things that sound like police radios reporting something, such as a description of a car, or what sounds like aeroplane radios.

Now as well as the pure hallucination theory I've also considered that perhaps as we retreat into a sleep state that our minds are tuned into different sleep states and depending on the time and the frequency that we are somehow able to pick up radio waves within our minds. I'm fairly adequate at analysing my own dreams and the symbols within but I find it hard to find reasons I will often hear what sound like radios.

Sounds of Hypnopompia: (the state of consciousness leading out of sleep) I can't recall ever experiencing sounds whilst in this state, i've only ever had potent imagery just before waking and maybe the occasional entrails of sound from dreams. Wanting to pop it on here as it would be interesting to find out if anyone else has/does experience sounds whilst in this state?

So has anyone else experienced anything similar to the above? Electrical noises, radio waves, something similar, something entirely different?

And have you any ideas on what you think cause these noises in these particular sleep states?

I suffer from sleep paralysis but not as often as I used too. I still get it occasionally but its normally when I have a lot on my mind, slightly stressed or if I try and force myself to sleep when I know I'm not very tired.

The noises you describe are similar to what I experience. I hear a loud pulsating buzzing that can get very loud sometimes. But its funny you mention the police radio. A couple of times I've heard what I thought was a radio and a dj talking, which I have thought it must have been a car passing outside playing the radio loud. Maybe it was part of my paralysis after all.

I also hear voices which used to freak me out, as if someone was in the room when i know there shouldn't be. I remember once hearing two people talking and one voice said "he is asleep". and I was alone at the time and soon as I woke there was know one there. I've learned to cope with it all now by telling myself I'm still asleep, to keep calm and try and wake up.

reply to post by Paulos

Thanks for the reply, and always good to know i'm not the only one to hear these things. I enjoy hypothesising on stuff but can get a bit awkward when i've only got myself as the subject, if you know what I mean. I've heard much about other people experiencing these buzzing noises but not much about the radio sounds, and very little about what may actually cause this.

Interestingly, during searching around online for this stuff I found that apparently white static is good for falling asleep as it gives the brain the stimulus it craves, perhaps our brains are creating our own and since sleep paralysis is common is times of stress perhaps it allows us to ignore our anxieties.

Constant white noise, he told me, "gives the brain a tonic signal that dampens its own internal systems."

Given what you described, IMO it's safe to assume that everything experienced in a state of sleep paralysis or into/out of sleep, are hallucinations.

reply to post by Captain Reynolds


That's fair enough, but hallucinations just seems to apply a term without much explanation. Given that hallucinations are defined as not real, how would this account for different people experiencing similar things? And what would be the basis for the hallucination? Say a schizophrenic hears voices that 'aren't real', the next question would be why do they hear these voices?

Our minds produce symbolism in dreams that is relative to thoughts, feelings and experience, so how would people hearing 'radios' be relative to their internal state? People who have full blown hallucinations when awake usually have some relation to the hallucination (eg. seeing someone they know who's recently died as a means to deal with the loss), so what would be the common factor linking people that experience particular sounds during a sleep state?

I appreciate your input and don't expect you to answer what i've thrown out here but these are the kinds of questions i'm left with after pure hallucination theory.

An excellent OP and I feel for you suffering sleep paralysis for that long,so frequently and intensity.

Nearly 17 years ago Iwent through a period of about a year when it occured maybe 7 or 8 times in total so I know what a terrifying experience it can be.

Particularly as I'd never heard of SP when it first happened to me so I didn't have a clue what was happening that first time.

All I knew was I had woken up,I lay down on the couch and dozed off then a short while later I woke but couldnt move at all,couldnt twitch a muscle my whole body completely unresponsive,numb.

I couldn't open my eyes either,I was literally trapped within my own but seemingly paralysed body and naturally as the seconds passed and I still had no feeling in any part of my body I began to panic.

Not having the faintest idea whether it was temporary or something had 'snapped' as I slept and it was permanant I could feel the fear take hold.Funny enough I had no trouble feeling fear.

What made it absurd was as I lay trapped in a waking nightmare I could hear the t.v and even stranger I heard my dad n girlfriend chatting quite normally and I wanted to scream 'help me' but couldnt twitch even my eyelid.

I tried to overcome my fear,settle my mind and work out what was going on.

Was I paralysed for life or would it wear off ?? Sounds strange but I had no idea what was happening,all i knew i was able to breathe ok so I wasn't dying in my sleep which had crossed my mind by then.

I figured I've no feeling anywhere so I'm very unlikely to suddenly get my body back just like that but I thought if I could try with everything i had to make my little finger move then it meant whatever was going on I wasnt permenantly paralysed at least.

So I concentrated all my willpower focusing on my finger.It twitched slightly and I felt elated and began trying again moving it millimetres now but it was getting easier until I regained control of iit,then control of my body and then my eyes opened.Sitting for a heartbeat i stood up and went out into the yard just moving about.

I had no idea what had happened but I was so thankful I wasnt still on the couch unable to move,i just wanted to forget it happened besides I knew they nod at me if I told them about it n tell me I'd been dreaming but I knew I wasn't.

That time there was no noise,no entitys,no aliens,demons or gods just being trapped in my 'dead' body.

Anyway it was maybe 6 months later n I was sleeping on my mates floor when it happened again.Still had no idea what was going on but I knew what to expect.

Except this time I had this loud noise in my ears.if you were to switch on your t.v but unplug the aeriel,satelitte box,DVD player too so it was untuned and showing a screen of snow.then hike the volume up full,it was that exact static,electric hissing sound but like I had loud earphones on my ears.

I used the same technique as before to break out of it.it happened a handful more times over a few months,the same thing with the loud electric,interference/white noise sound in my ears.By the end it was annoying not frightening and it's not happened in 16-17 years

The hissing sound makes me wonder if it's a short curcuit in the brain causing it ??

I'm not convinced that it's a hallucination of any kind.I don't know,Captain Reynolds,what you're experience is with dreaming and moving between sleeping,dreaming and waking states,it may be extensive but my 'dream life' has been as real to me as my waking reality all my life.

I know it's simply my assertion,it's anecdotal and proves nothing but I always know when I'm in a dream.They're generally lucid to some degree but I know that my sleep paralysis was a real experience each time and not a dream.To weaken my case I often fall asleep and then start by dreaming I was nodding off but had woken again except i'm dreaming I've woken,if you follow me ??

Now,that may sound like the perfect case of someone who dreamt their experience but when i become lucid within the dream I very rarely mistake it for reality and even the odd time i'm not aware it's a dream i'll see little clues that tell me it's a dream.My alarm clock being in completely the wrong place and not in the place it always is is a typical cue that tells me it's a dream.

More than that though when I wake out of a dream I feel a jolt,waking with a physical bang so I know when I come to I was dreaming.

Everything about the sleep paralysis was a woken experience,that i know,the electric white noise that is loud in my ears i'm sure as i can be is not an aurul hallucination either though whether it's an internal symptom of sleep paralysis or as the OP suggests somehow tuning into radio waves I couldnt say but I never heard voices just the noise.

Also I've never had visual hallucinations because my eyes are shut until i come out of it.thankfully I've never felt any presence or entity in the room like many report (though when i'm dreaming i'm in my bed i've had allsorts of people and other entities in the room).

I favour,as i said some sort of short circuit which i feel is the cause of my SP not a symptom but thats simply a gut feeling

a reply to: melancholiflower

Hello,
I am wondering if anyone has anymore information on this subject. Good scientific evidence combined with a consideration for spirituality. I often lucid dream, and I experience "sleep paralysis" quite often. Last night I heard what sounded like two different radio stations in each ear, and then I was also seeing a very bright light that felt like a presence of consciousness. I seen dark figures in the past. I'm not exactly sure what I'm asking... I just need more information.

a reply to: melancholiflower

I hear a hissing noise when i sleep. It sounds like a television sets white noise. The white noise typically crescendos until its too much to bear and I have to wake. I have also heard a falling star make a similar hissing... Scientists say that the light from the meteor is a frequency that induces sound in near by objects ... The effect is termed photo acoustic coupling. Maybe microwave or similar frequency is inducing your auditory pathway to hiss... Like the falling star... Radios do broadcast in microwave... Perhaps it is on purpose. An attempt to say something to you...

I suffered through an episode of exploding head syndrome.

My doc had to look it up.

Last about 2 months, I hope I never get that again.

en.wikipedia.org...

Exploding head syndrome (EHS), alternately termed episodic cranial sensory shock,[1] is a benign condition in which a person hears loud "imagined" noises (such as a bomb exploding, a gunshot, or a cymbal crash) or experiences an explosive feeling[clarification needed] when falling asleep or waking up.[2][3][4] These noises have a sudden onset, are typically brief in duration, and are often jarring for the person.[2] Neither the cause nor the mechanism is known.[5] Though harmless in and of themselves, episodes have been known to create distress or impairment in the lives of individuals.

For me, it was like a gun shot going off right next to my head when falling asleep.

Totally freaked me out till I figured out what it was.

a reply to: RickinVa

I heard that gunshot sound before falling asleep one night... The next night i saw a woman walk across the foot of the bed and into the bathroom. When i told my girlfriend about it the next day, she said she had seen the same girl doing the same thing but in a dream. A couple weeks later my neighbor down the hall overdosed and died.