The sound of music: A rare case of auditory Charles Bonnet syndrome in an elderly male.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Auditory Charles Bonnet syndrome describes a rare condition that presents with sensorineural hearing loss, which can result in musical hallucinations. METHODS: A Hispanic man, age 78, with no previous psychiatric history was evaluated at our clinic with a complaint of hearing voices and music. The patient was noted to have received cochlear implantation in his right ear in 2013, due to bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. He had auditometric testing completed in 2013 following the onset of hallucinations. RESULTS: Routine laboratory workup was unremarkable. Computed tomography of the brain revealed mucosal thickening in the left maxillary sinus and mild generalized cerebral atrophy. Over the course of 4 months, treatment with donepezil led to improvement in symptomatology. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score decreased substantially from 15 to 6 over an 8-week period. The Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale score decreased from 4 to 2 and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement scale score increased from 0 to 1 over the same period. CONCLUSIONS: Auditory Charles Bonnet syndrome should be considered in patients endorsing auditory hallucinations with hearing loss in whom the etiology is not clearly due to a psychiatric condition. The role of acetylcholine requires further elucidation; however, donepezil demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of musical hallucinations in our patient.