For years I’ve been unable to listen to music, have the radio or TV on in the background etc, because I think I hear mumbling messages in the background noise. They are sending me messages but I don’t know what they are.
I’ve never thought of this as ‘hearing voices’ because I seem to hear them with my mind rather than my ears. They are not an auditory hallucination, but a misinterpretation of environmental sounds.
Would you guys think this qualifies as ‘hearing voices’?
Neurotypical people sometimes hear distortions in white noise or background sounds also. This is a type of hallucination, but not a warning sign of psychosis on its own. The fact that you think they’re sending you messages is a warning sign, though.
I remember I took my landlord to court because I thought the neighbors were harassing me by somehow hooking up a camera inside my apt. I would hear the voices of what I was sure was this woman and her daughters. I listened to the recordings every night for a whole week before my court date. Same voices saying the same thing every time I listened.
The very morning I got to court I took out my recorder, hit play so that the judge and lawyers could hear what was happening. There was absolutely nothing on none of them.
I was devastated. And so embarrassed. I had about 20 recordings. This was before I realized I was sick.