Sleep whistling and replaying a melody during N3 sleep: a new form of disorder of arousal

Abstract

Vocalizations are common during arousal disorders, but producing a recognizable whistled melody has not been described. A 30-year-old man with a history of childhood sleepwalking, occasional sleep talking and confusional arousals exhibited an unusual musical behavior during a spontaneous slow-wave arousal from N3 sleep. This behavior consisted of rhythmic upper-body movements that kept time with the whistling of the recognizable melody "Take Me Home, Country Roads." He had complete amnesia for the event but later recognized the melody as one he had recently learned. This observation expands the behavioral repertoire of arousal disorders. The coordination of forced and prolonged expiration, lip movements, and torso and hand co-singing gestures, which lead to correct rhythms and melodies, may be maintained (and possibly automatized) during partial sleep.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{messina2026sleep,
  title = {{Sleep whistling and replaying a melody during N3 sleep: a new form of disorder of arousal}},
  author = {Anthony Messina and Caterina Antonaglia and Isabelle Arnulf and Pauline Dodet},
  journal = {Sleep Medicine},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1016/j.sleep.2026.109262},
  url = {https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-05748895v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Sleep whistling and replaying a melody during N3 sleep: a new form of disorder of arousal
AU  - Anthony Messina
AU  - Caterina Antonaglia
AU  - Isabelle Arnulf
AU  - Pauline Dodet
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/14
JO  - Sleep Medicine
DO  - 10.1016/j.sleep.2026.109262
UR  - https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-05748895v1
AB  - Vocalizations are common during arousal disorders, but producing a recognizable whistled melody has not been described. A 30-year-old man with a history of childhood sleepwalking, occasional sleep talking and confusional arousals exhibited an unusual musical behavior during a spontaneous slow-wave arousal from N3 sleep. This behavior consisted of rhythmic upper-body movements that kept time with the whistling of the recognizable melody "Take Me Home, Country Roads." He had complete amnesia for the event but later recognized the melody as one he had recently learned. This observation expands the behavioral repertoire of arousal disorders. The coordination of forced and prolonged expiration, lip movements, and torso and hand co-singing gestures, which lead to correct rhythms and melodies, may be maintained (and possibly automatized) during partial sleep.
SN  - 1389-9457
SN  - 1878-5506
ER  -

Abstract

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