Dr Kelly Jakubowski talks about her research on the spontaneous mental recall and repetition of music in the ‘mind’s ear’, known as involuntary musical imagery or ‘earworms’, is a frequent and ubiquitous experience in the Western world. Despite its widespread prevalence, psychological enquiry into the mechanisms underlying the earworm experience is relatively recent. Over the past decade and a half, she and other researchers have begun to unpack the common triggers of earworm episodes and the contexts in which earworms most likely to occur, individual differences in personality, musical background, and cognitive styles that predict earworm frequency and reactions to earworms, and effective strategies for alleviating unwanted earworms. Dr Kelly Jakubowski’s research has also uncovered specific musical features that predict whether a song is likely to become an earworm, and how features of earworm songs impact our everyday moods and activities. Beyond the conception of earworms an “uninvited visitors” in our minds, recent research has also begun to reveal how earworms might play a functional role in our lives, providing new insights into how inner music interacts with other cognitive processes like memory, attention, and emotion.
The guest speaker in our Patient Education Programme (PEP) planned for Monday 3rd of November 2025 at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (UK time) is Dr Kelly Jakubowski who is Associate Professor in Music Psychology at Durham University. She co-leads Durham’s Music Psychology Lab and is Co-Director of the Centre for Research into Inner Experience. Her primary research interests include musical memory, earworms, musical imagery and imagination, music-evoked autobiographical memory, and cross-cultural music cognition.
Joanna Barker (Audiologist, Specialist in Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Misophonia Rehabilitation) will be hosting this PEP meeting.
There will be the chance to ask us any questions, so please join live to ask your questions!
This event is suitable for members of public who are interested to learn about tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia, patients, parents of children with hyperacusis or misophonia, students, Audiologists, Hearing therapists, Hearing aid dispensers, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Otologists, Neurologists, Speech and language therapists, Occupational therapists, Nurses, Teachers of the deaf, social workers, General medicine, or other qualified health and social care disciplines.
To register submit the form below:
