Normal I think. I hear what you’re saying, but specifically more noticeable when it’s dead silent. I hate it. So… I sleep with rain sounds or a YouTube video of someone talking.

I’m not sure I experience exactly what you describe - I’d describe what I hear as a radio just barely audible in the background. I only experience it when I’m about to fall asleep or supposed to be getting up.

Ten or so years ago after a really long day of school I flopped down in bed and noticed it and I made a conscious decision to listen rather than move. Ever since it happens a couple times a month now. I’ve never found it concerning and it’s maybe almost comforting, like, “oh, that thing is back.”

It’s exactly like a soft radio where you’re only catching bits and pieces of what’s being said. Sometimes I recognize unusual words I heard from that day, the voices are distinct and can be female or male. I can’t decide if I can influence what’s being said or not. I do think the harder I pay attention the more coherent things start to sound.

My feeling is that bits of what I’ve heard throughout the day, or maybe longer, are getting played back to me. But I’ve never recognized any of the voices of heard anything said that I could identify as verbatim from the day.

Seriously, it’s never a bad idea to have a check-in with your doctor, but this is totally normal. Our brains are pattern-matching machines that try to make coherent sense of our sensory input, and do so overzealously. After all, we evolved this way because it’s better for survival to mistakenly hear a lion in the brush than to ignore the sounds of a lion that’s really there. That’s why we see a face in the moon, and Jesus on slices of toast.

It’s also the phenomenon behind those ghost-hunting shows. They put a recording device in an empty building, and our brains pick out “voices” from random static that it records.

It’s called auditory pareidolia, and here’s an article about it.

See a GP

This is not something for Lemmy to solve. This is something for a psychiatrist to solve.

You should go see a psychiatrist if you can. This definitely sounds like early schizophrenia and a lot of people ignore the early signs before it’s too late. With medications a normal life is possible so don’t worry.

zeroth of all, don’t ask randos on internet for medical advice. ask a doc about it if it’s distressing for you. this might be something as benign as normal reaction to sensory deprivation

dude your brain is doing a ton of things all the time youre not directly aware of. youre just accidentally being made aware of your brains background noise.

if it comes into focus (you can hear and understand sustained voices/noises) , see a doctor.

otherwise it seems like the normal background brain chatter ive dealt with my whole life.

As many said before here, if you’re concerned go see a professional. But overall this sounds like your brain is just very keen on doing its pattern matching thing.

I think the most important aspect is whether you’re “suffering” from this or whether you just notice it from time to time and can shrug it off. If it’s the later, I’d keep an eye (or ear?) on it, but not worry about it too much.

See a doctor.

What about when wearing (really good) noise cancelling head phones? Everything you’ve mentioned is when there is some sort of noise going on, but it’s it also happening with everything cancelled out? A few people have pointed out Auditory Pareidoilia which is your brain trying to find words/pattern/meaning in the noise it is hearing, but is it also doing that when the only sound it can hear is it’s own blood whooshing though your veins, which it should be used to? What about in a sensory deprivation tank?

There’s Hearing - which is what the all the tiny bits of your ears connected to the nerves do, then there’s Perception - which is how your brain interprets the information it receives from the nerves connected to your ears and puts it back together. Basically, your brain is working overtime to try to figure out why you are listening to the noise you are listening to. As long as it’s only happening in those situations described and, as others have said, it’s not voices telling to do anything.

If you smoke or otherwise consume marijuana, it can cause auditory hallucinations.

Stimulant use?

It’s pretty normal, brains try to meaning or something in its senses. Sometimes if you hear tapping you may start believing it’s the beat to a certain song. There is also of course that viral video that makes you hear “brainstorm” or “green needle” depending on which option you are mentally choosing.

If you expect to hear something you will hear it. There have been funny moments where I removed my earbuds, put them down, and I kept listening to the faintly playing music. I put them back in 30 seconds later and I realized they were muted the whole time

See a doctor. Do it now. Not later. Nobody here will give you accurate medical advice. The underlying causes are diverse. You will not receive worthwhile medical advice without a proper diagnosis.