elderly dad ,

[The80sweregreat]

have posted before on the normal elderly parents bit back in April about my dad. Not sure if this is the start of something like dementia, but he keeps on saying he hears people singing ' from across the road' and its always a man singing old war time songs that he remembers from WW2 ( he was in the war aged 19 and is now 94) back on the hottest day of the year , he said he could hear this man singing ' white Christmas!' I have googled this and there is a rare symptom of someone who is deaf ( he is very hard of hearing but wont do anything about or entertain a hearing aid) hearing such music, always in the morning ( he said that the man starts at 6am). there was a church group across a busy A road near to where her lives but they were petitioned to stop their music playing last year and it wasn't any of the songs dad says he can hear now. I googled it and there was a rave held there last summer, but again, that was all stopped and they would nt have played any of the type of songs dad 'hears'. He phoned me today saying the music was on at 6am and woke him up - I said to him it cant be right,but he is adamant and just laughs at me! This has been going on for months now. despite his age, he lives alone and able to walk around and fends for himself. No other real health worries, but he has had UTI's in the past. This is all very odd, just wondered if anyone else on here had any experience of elderly people and this type of thing happening to them? thank you.

[CMOTDibbler]

I think auditory hallucinations can be very common in people with hearing loss - and a quick search says musical ones are common among these. Sort of like the brain 'filling in' where its not getting the input from hearing.
Apart from complaining that he was woken up, does it bother him? If not, I'd just leave it. If it does, then hearing aids would possibly help

[The80sweregreat]

Dibbler, thank you for responding. The quick look i took at dr goggle said the same but my wòrry is his certainty that the person singing these old songs is real. He said the people were queuing up at the place across the road, this isnt the case! I do worry about him, he refuses to have ahearing test and believes i should also hear this music. I do wonder if its the start of dementia.

[CMOTDibbler]

With the queuing up, does he think he is seeing them, or just hearing them?

[The80sweregreat]

He said today that he saw them.. I know, he hasnt saidthis before today. The road is a fair way from him ( eyesight isnt wonderful ) but he lives opposite where the music came from last summer ( some kind of religious group ) its so weird!

[whataboutbob]

There's something called Charles Bonnet syndrome it causes vivid visual hallucinations in persons who are not demented. There are reported cases of auditory hallucinations in CB too, but that's less common.
A feature is that the person recognises these sounds/ images are not real.

[CMOTDibbler]

I think that as he is convinced of the reality and is seeing things too, that a call to his GP to explain all of this, and ask if they could call him in for an assessment (maybe alongside his flu vaccination as its that time of year) and see whether there is something going on. Some forms of dementia do cause hallucinations, and it would be worth just ruling out simple things like UTIs as well

[whataboutbob]

Yes CMOT the CB is only an outside possibility and you're right, it's really the GP's domain to figure out what's going on, not ours!