Can't Get a Certain Song Out of Your Head? Here’s What Makes It an Earworm

Whether it's the opening lines to "Bohemian Rhapsody" or a familiar advertising jingle, we all get them. But scientists have also found ways to banish a particularly pesky tune.

By Avery Hurt
Apr 7, 2021 4:55 PMApr 15, 2021 7:41 PM
Earworm
(Credit: Andrzej Wilusz/Shutterstock)

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It’s a jingle from a radio ad, or maybe the theme song to an old sitcom, or perhaps it’s a scrap of a tune you haven’t heard since high school (and didn’t much like even then). But one thing is certain — if it doesn’t stop playing in your head in a never-ending loop, you’re going to start banging your head against the wall.

Yep. You’ve got an earworm.

Earworms are as common as they are annoying. Almost everyone gets them, and some poor souls have them several times a week. Scientists call them “involuntary musical imagery” or sometimes “intrusive musical imagery.” The English word earworm is a literal translation the German word Ohrwurm. No wonder English speakers adopted the phrase. It makes perfect sense: The tune worms its way into your brain via your ears — and refuses to leave. Most often, it’s just a bit of a tune, a short passage of a song that repeats over and over and over and over and over... like a needle caught on a scratch in an old vinyl record.

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