Loud tone heard as I fell asleep

Hi ATS,

I just remembered something, I always wanted to share this, but never got around to doing it.

Four years ago, I was still living at my moms and I was sleeping in the basement at the time (typical I know) and I use to go to bed around 2-3 am in those days. Spent a lot of time reading on ATS, reading till my back was spent and my eyeballs were dried up.

So I lied in bed and as I entered a deep sleep, I heard a loud sine wave. The sound was so loud that it made me stand up on my feet!

Let me stress the situation here again. I was lying down SLEEPING and then BEEP the sound was so loud, I jumped out of bed. Sprung out of bed, on my feet. (the link is the frequency that I can remember the sound being heard at. It sounded exactly like a pure sine or square wave between 950 ~ 1.1 kHZ)

I had never woken up so fast in my life. I was wide awake and I was looking around in the dark trying to figure out where or what was that. The sound didn't come from any direction in particular. It was winter, I went up a flight of stairs to investigate and looked outside.

I listened to hear if my mom or sister was up. They were all sound asleep.

Till today, I never figured out what caused this. Maybe a dream? I had never dreamt of a loud sound that scared me before. It sounded so real, it was not in my head. Or was it?

Never happened again.

Has anyone ever experienced something similar?

I just found out that this is what probably happened.

Exploding head syndrome. Sounds worse than it really is.

Wow! I am answering my own threads! I officially have no life.

Congratz. Since you answered your own question, Make a new thread since this is not Paranormal, and discuss there the Exploading Head Syndrome.

"rare and relatively undocumented parasomnia event"

Maybe you can find others that had the same problem c:

bitsforbytes
Wow! I am answering my own threads! I officially have no life.

edit on 10-3-2014 by bitsforbytes because: (no reason given)

That made me laugh!

reply to post by bitsforbytes

I listened to the tone, and never experienced anything like that. I did experience something startling once while after falling asleep about an hour. The best description of it is like if someone dropped a stack of heavy books on a table right next to my head. So I googled that and came up with "Exploding Head Syndrome". Something about entering deep sleep. Talked to my doctor about it and was told it was nothing to worry about. I have suffered from tinnitus a few years ago that was getting real bad and affecting my ability to sleep. I switched medication and it has mostly gone away.

bitsforbytes
I just found out that this is what probably happened.

Exploding head syndrome. Sounds worse than it really is.

Well this is interesting as i saw on a thread about out of body experiences people mentioned such a sound.

These loud noises are a common feature of out-of-body experiences. In surveys, as many as 85% of respondents indicate perception of them during the onset of such experiences.[5][6

Believe it or not before being awakened by the stack of dropping books, I was dreaming that I was floating outside my house looking at the porch light! It was strange... it felt like the bang got me back in the house. I told my doctor about the dream too. He's a neurologist.

Yep, exploding head syndrome ... got it and a host of other unusual sleep and non-sleep phenomenon.

The first couple were inside a dream and were even LOUDER. The sound *ahem* "device" in the dreams was actually killing everybody except me. Jump ahead 40 years and now, it's in the pre-dream state. My last one a month or so ago was GROSS as well. The last one had a visual of two main sections of the brain tearing apart and the sound matched.

It's still interesting though.

bitsforbytes
I just found out that this is what probably happened.

Exploding head syndrome. Sounds worse than it really is.

Out of curiosity, I checked out your link. While my head never exploded, I was shocked to read about the earthquake sensation!
When I was 17 I woke up several mornings each week SURE we were having an earthquake!
It would take several minutes of being awake to shake the feeling and accept that it was just a dream.

I was living in Alaska, and just attributed it to fears from the Good Friday earthquake that had happened three years earlier.

As soon as I left Alaska, the dreams stopped.

When it happened to me it caused me to suddenly turn my head, and it felt kind of like a sprain or something. I was scared it was a stroke. I had a head injury in 1990 and I have to take medication for seizures.

Glad you figured it out... I was going to refer you to a link on hypnagogic auditory hallucinations .... but exploding head syndrome has a nice ring to it.

I have the same issue. The sound I sometimes hear as I drift off is a very loud pounding sound - like someone banging violently on a door. Scared the crap out of me for a long time before I figured out what it was. I've also had the sound of someone saying my name right into my ear. That is also pretty freaky, but the same kind of phenomena is to blame.

I haven't had it happen in a couple of years now, but I would go through periods where it happened almost every other night. Hopefully it won't be a reoccurring thing for you - it is annoying and freaky even after you know what it is.

reply to post by bitsforbytes


Yes, not too long ago as I was falling asleep, I heard a beep. If I thought something was implanted in my head, that's what it sounded like. I figured either I am a robot or it was a type of hallucination, though I am not prone to those. I do remember once as a kid, I woke up and heard an ominous "Bwahahaha" laugh behind my door.. never figured it out. I remember it clearly. I wonder if that is associated with the Exploding Head thing.

You know, I get this too sometimes. More often, right before I fall into sleep, I hear this strange, pulsing 'womp-womp-womp' kind of deep, electric-sounding tone throughout my entire head, (& it's not the dub-step kids getting home from the bar haha). It sometimes is so burdensome that I just have to get out of bed and take a walk. I imagine it has something to do with my brain-waves changing into a different state at the onset of sleep, but I've never knew where to begin my search. I've noticed that this kind of auditory hallucination happens if I've been sleep deprived and running on lots of coffee.
Anyhow, best of luck to you and get some rest!

xox,
-kissy

reply to post by bitsforbytes

What did you do after going upstairs and looking outside? Did you immediately return to bed and did you experience any sleep paralysis?

Over the past few months I've had a few occations where I have felt an earthquake. I literally feel the ground shaking and I ask if anyone else felt it and hear "no". I read your link and believe this could be my issue. A lot doesn't match - not on medications and am not necessarily fatigued when this happens (have been standing or sitting). I will even search for quakes and each time I'll see a small one happened within a couple hundred miles or a large one far away so it has been bothering me. There is no way I can be feeling these things. What a bummer of a name for this thing though - exploding head syndrome. I think we should rename it.

This happens to me all the time. Does anyone know if it's common? A long time ago when it would happen to me, I would assume that maybe other people could hear it, too. I heard that depending on whether you hear it on your right or on your left, it makes a difference. OP, do you remember what side you heard it on? I know that I'm asking two different questions (to different people and audiences), but if I could get them both answered, that'd be great.

reply to post by VegHead


Aww, man!! I get the exact same thing before I go to sleep or after I wake up!! I was even gonna start a thread about that!

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Exploding head syndrome

Sounds like a few people here experienced the same thing. The sound that is heard can be anything from a gun shot to a siren or an explosion, hence exploding head syndrome.

The cause of exploding head syndrome is not known, though some physicians have reported a correlation with extreme fatigue. This condition has also been linked to rapid withdrawal from certain prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines and SSRIs.[3] The condition may develop at any time during life and women suffer from it slightly more often than men. It is more common over the age of fifty, although it has been reported as young as age 10. Attacks can be one-time events, or can recur with attacks increasing or decreasing over time, sometimes with no incidents over long periods of time.[4]
The mechanism is also not known, though possibilities have been suggested; one is that it may be the result of a sudden movement of a middle ear component or of the eustachian tube, another is that it may be the result of a form of minor seizure in the temporal lobe where the nerve cells for hearing are located.[4] Electroencephalograms recorded during actual attacks show unusual activity only in some sufferers, and have ruled out epileptic seizures as a cause.[2]

I fell asleep right after I posted sorry for the belated responses.

reply to post by Dianec


Would you say you are someone with a good sense of balance ?

Maybe your sense of balance is what gives you the impression your feeling quakes?

I am not a doctor just making assumptions.