Auditory hallucinations in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Whereas visual hallucinations are often found among patients with Parkinson's disease, the occurrence of auditory hallucinations has never been systematically documented. The occurrence, past and present, of auditory hallucinations has been studied in 121 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease attending a movement disorders clinic. The cognitive state was evaluated using the short mental test (SMT).Hallucinations were reported for 45 patients (37%); 35 (29%) had only visual hallucinations and 10 (8%) both visual and auditory hallucinations. No patient reported auditory hallucinations unaccompanied by visual hallucinations. The auditory hallucinations occurred repeatedly, consisting of human voices. They were non-imperative (n=9), non-paranoid (n=9), and often incomprehensible (n=5). They were not obviously influenced by the patients' age, duration of disease, or treatment with levodopa. Cognitive impairment was more common among hallucinating patients (64%, 50%, and 25% among patients with visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and nonhallucinating parkinsonian patients respectively). Depression necessitating antidepressants was present in five of 10 and other psychotic features in six patients with auditory hallucinations.It is concluded that auditory hallucinations occur in Parkinson's disease, particularly in patients who also have visual hallucinations and are cognitively impaired. (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998;64:533-535)

Thalamic Hyperperfusion in Verbal Hallucination of Parkinsonian Patients

“…One of the reasons may be that, among the various psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease, visual hallucination is frequent but auditory hallucination has been thought to be rare. However, Inzelberg et al examined 121 cases with Parkinson's disease and reported auditory hallucination in ten cases (7). In the present examination, we found six cases with auditory hallucination among 83 patients.…”

“…Hallucinations are common symptoms in these patients. Visual hallucinations are a well recognized problem in patients with Parkinson's disease (3)(4)(5)(6), whereas auditory hallucinations are less common (7)(8)(9). As a result, information about the mechanism of auditory hallucinations in Parkinson's disease is not generally available.…”

Hearing voices: Explanations and implications.

“…Additionally, tuberculosis can produce tumor-like lesions in the brain, as some have speculated caused Joan of Arc's voices (Ratnasuriya, 1986). Auditory hallucinations have also been reported in conjunction with Parkinson's disease (Inzelberg, Kipervasser & Korczyn, 1998), migraine headaches (McAbee & Feldman-Winter, 1999), and thyroid conditions (Pearce & Walbridge, 1991).…”

Visual Hallucinations in PD and Lewy Body Dementias: Old and New Hypotheses

“…VH are by far the most common hallucinations in PD and LBD although acoustic [46] and haptic (tactile) hallucinations are reported in variable percentages of patients (11-19%). Olfactory hallucinations have also been described recently and open to debate is the question whether somatic complaints which are often reported by patient with PD and DLB [47] actually represent a form of somatic hallucinations.…”