Earworms

Earworms are not parasitic nematodes (round worms) that live in your ear.  They are sometimes known as a brain worm, sticky music, or stuck song syndrome.  Earworms are a catchy piece of music that repeats through a person’s mind when it is no longer playing.  Songs with lyrics may account for a little over 73% of earworms. While about 90 percent of people experience earworms at least once a week, music lovers have more frequent and longer earworm episodes.  Men and women experience earworms equally, but they tend to last longer and irritate women more. 

Although there are many postulations regarding the cause of earworms, why we get them remains a scientific mystery.  We do know that short catchy tunes are most likely to get stuck rather than a symphony.  Some things exacerbate earworms, such as frequency and duration of exposure to music, worry, stress, fatigue, and idleness. 

Some people can get rid of earworms, but others are unable to.  One technique, called exposure, involves listening to the entire song instead of the snippet that is repeating.  It is like a completion task.  Knowing  the whole thing eliminates need for it to be stuck in your head.  Another form of distraction is to sing the song out loud, but change some of the words or slightly throw off the melody.  This may cause the song to fade.  Another method is to come up with a competing melody to think about.