A rare form of epilepsy, triggered by music

This month's Scientific America has an article about a woman called Stacey Gayle who had seizures when she listened to certain types of music.

Gayle was only 22, when she started to exhibit symptoms of this extremely rare (only 150 cases on record) form of epilepsy. Over the next three years, the seizures came and went. Tests proved inconclusive. No one had any idea what caused them. Then, one day, she noticed that every time a certain song came on the radio, she ended up having a 'fit' on the floor.

After subjecting her to a battery of tests in hospital, the doctors concluded that the sole cause of her seizures was music. Unfortunately for the music lover and chorister, the only 'safe' choices were jazz and classical - neither of which she was fond of.

Soon the situation had become so bad that even a snatch of a song from a telephone ring tone or an advertising jingle could cause her to collapse. Normal life became impossible. Medication had no effect. After months of soul searching, she agreed to try brain surgery to try to fix the problem.

Again, she went back to the testing unit in the hospital. This time they recorded exactly what areas of her brain were involved when she had a seizure, then, in separate tests put sections of her brain 'to sleep' to see what might happen, eg to her memory and speech etc, if they were removed.

Then, once the doctors were sure that the surgery would cause no devastating loss of function, they very precisely removed an egg sized portion of her brain. Luckily, the operation, which only 4 people with musicogenic epilepsy have ever had, was a complete success, and Gayle has begun to live a normal life once more.