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Tinnitus, lucid dreaming and awakening. An online survey and theoretical implications.

Robin Guillard, Nicolas Dauman, Aurélien Cadix, Charlotte Glabasnia Linck, Marco Congedo, Dirk de Ridder, Alain Londero

Hearing research March 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2025.109204 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Sample size 148
Population Subjective tinnitus patients who could recall their dreams
Topics Dreaming Lucid dreaming
Keywords Awakening Rem sleep Tinnitus
Citations 1
Key findings Tinnitus is rarely perceived during dreams (94.6% of patients do not hear it), but can be perceived during lucid dreams when external sounds are also heard.

Abstract

Tinnitus is the perception of phantom sound in the absence of a corresponding external source. Previous studies reported that the presence of tinnitus is notably absent during dreams. This study aimed at replicating previous findings regarding tinnitus-free dreams, while also gaining a deeper understanding of tinnitus manifestations during dreams and after awakening. For this observational study, 195 tinnitus patients answered an online survey on the mutual-help community Siopi. 148 subjective tinnitus patients could recall their dreams. Among them, 94.6 % state they do not hear their tinnitus while dreaming. The rest (5.4 %) report higher tinnitus burden, higher stress and more often exhibit cophosis, tinnitus related to peripheral auditory pathology and/or associated with other health comorbidities. 12.2 % of the participants frequently experience lucid dreams. Among them, 38 % could perceive their tinnitus during lucid dreams, and this was strongly associated with the concomitant perception of external sounds during lucid dreaming. While the majority of patients report perceiving their tinnitus instantly upon awakening, during nocturnal awakenings, 17.2 % declared they could be awakened by their tinnitus and 10.0 % mentioned that their tinnitus can temporarily cease. Our findings confirm the previous findings: tinnitus is rarely perceived during dreams. Remarkably, our study is the first to document the case of tinnitus during lucid dreaming. 64 % of these patients gain higher-order consciousness attributes while still experiencing a tinnitus-free state. Our observations suggest that the presence or absence of gating of external auditory information during dreams acts as a tinnitus on-off switch, refining the previously proposed integrative model of auditory phantom perception.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... 2009 Observational study n = 6
Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study Experienced lucid dreamers 2012 Observational cohort n = 4
Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Individuals during REM sleep, including frequent lucid dreamers, a novice, and a... 2021 Observational study n = 36
Lucid Dreaming in Narcolepsy Consecutive patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls 2015 Case-control study n = 106
Metacognitive Mechanisms Underlying Lucid Dreaming Human participants split into high- and low-lucidity groups based on reported dream... 2015 Observational cohort

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Dreaming Lucid dreaming Philosophy of mind