Got Earworm? Study Suggests Three Cures

http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/Earworm-eradication-Study-details-cures-for-music-stuck-in-head-243038471.html
Earworm eradication: Study details cures for music stuck in head
January 31, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — It happens to nearly everyone: A song — let's say Abba's "Waterloo" — is stuck in your head and just won't go away.

Now science has not one but three ways to dig that dreaded earworm out. And none of them are too surprising, as researchers surveyed 18,000 residents of Finland and England and reported their findings in the journal PLOS One.

Researchers at the University of London found that earworm victims say you can listen to the complete song or sing it; you can just not let it bother you, or you can try using another song to shove out the offending tune.

Most of the time the people who replaced one tune with another reported that the second tune did not become an earworm. About one-in-nine Britons reported they tried to distract themselves with another song. Most said it usually worked.

On the other hand, more than half the Finns surveyed were more likely to just try to embrace the song, play it over or listen to the end. And that also worked at times, Stewart said.

And then there's a third group who, like Stewart, just ignore earworms because they're not bothered by them.

About 90 percent of people report earworms from time to time and Stewart said two things seem to be involved: lack of control and a brain that is sort of idling.

"People get very annoyed about being made to listen to music that they find is not to their personal taste and that they cannot control," Stewart said.