What does it mean when two people have the same song stuck in their head? (2023)

What does it mean when a song is stuck in your head?

Earworms can occur due to the brain's attempt to fill a gap in the auditory cortex, which is located in the temporal lobe. When you hear a song over and over, the brain transmits that sound information to the “phonological loop,” a short-term memory system in the auditory cortex.

Earworms or stuck song syndrome

Usually, stuck songs are catchy tunes, popping up spontaneously or triggered by emotions, associations, or by hearing the melody. Aetiologically, earworms are related to memory: auditory information functions as a strong mnemonic.

“Earworms” are unwanted catchy tunes that repeat in your head. These relentless tunes play in a loop in up to 98% of people in the western world.

According to experts, 98% of us get stuck on a song, known as an earworm. Certain people are more prone to earworms. Those with obsessive-compulsive disorder or who have obsessive thinking styles experience this phenomenon more often.

Stuck, intrusive, unwanted, and repetitive thoughts, mental images, concepts, songs, or melodies (earworms) are common symptoms of stress, including anxiety-caused stress.

Defined by researchers as a looped segment of music usually about 20 seconds long that suddenly plays in our heads without any conscious effort, an earworm can last for hours, days, or even, in extreme cases, months.

Auditory stimming can involve the person repeatedly listening to the same sounds or making the same noises. Bubble tubes provide a gentle bubbling noise which can be very pleasant for auditory stimming. Auditory stimming examples: Playing the same song over and over, clicking fingers, clapping, humming.

Musical obsessions are one of the many clinical features of OCD. Many people may experience involuntary musical imagery (INMI) or "earworms". These terms describe the spontaneous recall and replay of musical imagery within the mind's ear that repeat in an involuntary loop[2].

And we're looking for a synchronization of within one second. 0.20 * 0.10 * 0.002 * 0.005 = 0.00002, or 1 in 5 million. That is, for every 5 million seconds of music you listen to, given an even distribution across the above guesses, you'll have 1 second of synchronicity with someone in the world.

If someone with ADHD is looping the same song over and over again, it may be because they've found that the redundancy of a song playing in the background is what helps them focus best.

Is it normal to loop the same song?

Whatever the reason, it's totally normal to get fixated on a song and play it out over and over again until you're tired of it.

“Broken Record Syndrome,” or BRS, she explains, is the involuntary internal airing of Auditory Memory Loops or AMLs. “Basically, sufferers of the BRS/AML phenomenon hear short (5 to 15 second) clips of songs and sometimes phrases over and over to a maddening degree.

Hum to search for your earworm

On your mobile device, open the latest version of the Google app or find your Google Search widget, tap the mic icon and say “what's this song?” or click the “Search a song” button. Then start humming for 10-15 seconds. On Google Assistant, it's just as simple.