So, about a month ago, we bought a white noise machine for our bedroom. Mostly, just to drown out the odd neighborhood sounds at night.
It wasn't expensive, and we have enjoyed it. There's one thing though.
Sometimes, I hear it talking. Wait, wait - hear me out on this.
Now, I don't believe that anyone is trying to communicate with me via white noise. But sometimes, I hear patterns in the noise, and those patterns sound like short phrases. Things like:
Let go, then.
Come to the patio.
I'mma eat a frog leg.
Varsity cheer?
Cold face.
Nothing profound, my brain just makes these pathways. The best way to make it stop is to change position in bed. I don't know that it helps, it just disrupts the pattern, or makes you find a new one.
I didn't mention this to Matt for awhile, because it does sound crazy. But after a few weeks, I asked him if he heard patterns or phrases in the machine, and he said he did. I think we, as human beings, are constantly trying to solve for X, and our mind just wants to make sense of a repetitive sound. So we place words to it.
I hope that's it. I hope these aren't telepathic cries for help from an intelligent life form not of this planet.
But we do it with bird calls, too. We attribute words to their sounds to make it easier. Whip-poor-will, for example.
Maybe we need a better machine. Maybe I need to meditate and slow my brain down at night.
Or maybe I need to come to the patio and eat a frog leg?
Comments
But it does make sense. I just checked and, yes, there is something called "auditory pareidolia", though I'm disappointed it doesn't have its own fancy name to distinguish it from the phenomenon of seeing Elvis's face in a burrito.
Sometimes I also wake up in the middle of the night and think I hear voices from the radio. I think it's the alarm--we have the clock radio set to NPR--but when I check the time I realize what I'm hearing is various sounds like the air conditioner and dogs snoring that my brain is somehow processing as soft-spoken speech.