Who needs an iPod when you have a brain?

Scientists are now discovering "musical hallucinations." Something I suspect the mind does to comfort itself. Something that scientists suspect will continue happening as people are continually bombarded by sounds: clever cell phone rings, commercial jingles, email "dings."

Want to know how the mind takes all that sound in?

"Our brains use special networks of neurons to perceive music," according a story in the Science section of the New York Times. "When sounds first enter the brain, they activate a region near the ears called the primary auditory cortex that starts processing sounds at their most basic level. The auditory cortex then passes on signals of its own to other regions, which can recognize more complex features of music, like rhythm, key changes and melody."

The article goes on to talk about one of the most extensive studies of people who experience musical hallucinations.