India, Feb. 2 -- When one is in the shower, it is a common experience to imagine being called by name or the phone ringing. Hearing sounds which do not actually exist is a normal phenomenon, explained Dr Karan Rajan, a UK-based surgeon and health content creator, in an Instagram post on February 1. The phenomenon is known as auditory pareidolia.

According to Dr Rajan, the brain is wired to detect patterns as a survival mechanism. Therefore, when it hears white noise such as the sound of running water, it basically records it as "auditory software glitches," but does not simply ignore it.

Instead, it scans the individual's "memory bank" for familiar sounds and projects them onto the noise. This may include sounds of someone crying out fo...