Clinical and Anatomic Characteristics of Humming and Singing in Partial Seizures

Few reports have described the occurrence of complex musical automatisms during seizures, including singing1,2 or humming.3,4 The anatomic origin of these manifestations and the types of seizures in which they occur are not well known. In a recent report, the authors estimated that singing during seizures was difficult to correlate with anatomy.2 Humming has been described in seizures beginning in the anterior part of the temporal lobe.4 It is thus possible that ictal humming and ictal singing could reflect different anatomic origins. In addition, differences in the functional anatomy of ictal humming or singing may be supported by different brain networks involved in the normal processing of humming and singing.5 We assessed the frequency and features of “musical automatisms” (MAs) during partial seizures in an adult population of epileptic patients undergoing presurgical evaluation. All patients with partial seizures admitted to the Adult Epilepsy Unit of Timone Hospital (Marseille, France) …