Why does Music Sound Strange after you’ve Listened to it on Repeat While You Sleep?
Have you ever listened to a song on repeat while you slept and found that it sounded strange when you listened to it again? Maybe some of the instruments sound too loud or the tempo is off? Many people have experienced this, usually with their favorite song and inadvertently ended up messing up their perception of the song for themselves, but why does this happen?
There are many theories as to why this may occur, however the most accurate sounding one is that while you are asleep your brain is getting used to the constant stimuli. Hours on end your brain is processing the song over and over again, so that when you listen to it when you’re awake your brain is able to predict what is coming next and that’s why it sounds strange. One might think that they could habituate to the song (essentially tuning it out) but this may not work as when you are sleeping as additional stimuli will be quite limited. Besides just because you habituate to something does not mean that your brain is not still processing it on some level.
Naturally, one way to prevent this from happening is to not fall asleep with your favorite song on a loop. If you like to listen to a particular song to help you sleep, then set a timer so the song automatically turns off after a certain amount of time. You can also create a playlist of songs to sleep to.
If this has already happened to you then you’ll probably have to take a break from the song for a while, maybe if you wait long enough it will eventually return to sounding like it once did. Many people how have experienced this are unable to listen to and enjoy the song, so chances are you won’t be listening to it much if it sounds annoyingly different from what you once enjoyed.