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Recently I’ve been hearing incoming
text and call notifications in my head. But the ringtone is specific, only the
one that I’ve customized for my partner’s notifications. I would hear it in a
completely random place and time, mostly when I was away from my phone such as
when I was showering, eating, and dishwashing. However, I’ve once heard it when
I was in the middle of texting with him too.
I’d
always have the urge to check my phone every time it happened, even though a
part of me knows for sure that is all just in my head because my boyfriend and
I live in opposite time zones. He’d most likely be sleeping around the time I
heard those ringtones in my head. And yep, I found nothing as I expected.
I was a little bit concerned about this at first, even though this isn’t necessarily distracting for me since I’ve only been hearing it twice if not trice a day. However, it doesn’t make me feel less curious of why’s this phenomenon happens to me. And so, just like another contemporary being in general, I did superficial research about this and asked my virtual assistant: ChatGPT. As a result, I found that I’m experiencing a phenomenon called Phantom Ringtone Syndrome, also known as Ringxiety, where somebody thinks they hear their phone ring or vibrate. Apparently, it often happens because the brain becomes conditioned to expect notifications, causing it to misinterpret other sounds or sensation as a phone alert. And now I get caught been missing him in 4k.
