This should be distinguished from the commonly experienced phenomenon of getting a song stuck in ones head. Reports have also mentioned that it is also possible to get musical hallucinations from listening to music for long periods of time. Other causes include hearing loss and epileptic activity.In the past, the cause of auditory hallucinations was attributed to cognitive suppression by way of executive function failure of the frontoparietal sulcus. Newer research has found that they coincide with the left superior temporal gyrus, suggesting that they are better attributed to speech misrepresentations. It is assumed through research that the neural pathways involved in normal speech perception and production, which are lateralized to the left temporal lobe, also underlie auditory hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations correspond with spontaneous neural activity of the left temporal lobe, and the subsequent primary auditory cortex. The perception of auditory hallucinations corresponds to the experience of actual external hearing, despite the absence of any sound itself. Causes
In 2015 a small survey reported voice hearing in persons with a wide variety of DSM-5 diagnoses, including:

Bipolar disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Depression (mixed)
Dissociative identity disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Major depression
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychosis (NOS)
Schizoaffective disorder
Schizophrenia
Substance-induced psychosisHowever, numerous persons surveyed reported no diagnosis. In his popular 2012 book Hallucinations, neurologist Oliver Sacks describes voice hearing in patients with a wide variety of medical conditions, as well as his own personal experience of hearing voices. Genetic correlations have been identified with auditory hallucinations, but most work with non-psychotic causes of auditory hallucinations is still ongoing.
In other cases of extreme symptomatology, individuals were seen as being reduced to animals by a curse; these individuals were either left on the streets or imprisoned in insane asylums. It was the latter response that eventually led to modern psychiatric hospitals. Pre-modern
Presentation
Auditory hallucinations were rethought during the enlightenment. As a result, the predominant theory in the western world beginning in the late 18th century was that auditory hallucinations were the result of a disease in the brain (e.g., mania), and treated as such. Treatments
There were no effective treatments for hallucinations at this time. Conventional thought was that clean food, water, and air would allow the body to heal itself (sanatorium). Beginning in the 16th century insane asylums were first introduced in order to remove "the mad dogs" from the streets. These asylums acted as prisons until the late 18th century. This is when doctors began the attempt to treat patients. Often attending doctors would douse patients in cold water, starve them, or spin patients on a wheel. Soon, this gave way to brain-specific treatments with the most famous examples including lobotomy, shock therapy, and branding the skull with a hot iron. Society and culture
Notable cases
Robert Schumann, a famous music composer, spent the end of his life experiencing auditory hallucinations. Schumanns diaries state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A5 sounding in his ears. The musical hallucinations became increasingly complex.