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CHAPTER 19 · Music’s Neurological Nexus in Clinical Practice

Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations

Itay Tokatly Latzer, MD · Phillip L. Pearl, MD, FAES, FACNS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Abstract

Musicogenic seizures represent a rare seizure type that is triggered by a variable range of musical genres and types. Compared to simpler forms of reflex seizures, such as those induced by photic stimulation, there is typically a relatively long latency between the stimulus and seizure onset. There is often no overt cortical structural abnormality, although acquired lesions and genetic etiologies have been described. This reflects the complex nature of music processing in the brain, involving structures beyond the primary auditory cortex that lie within the temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes, as well as the brain stem, cerebellum, and emotional integration areas in the limbic system, including the insula. Functional neuroimaging, nuclear medicine, and EEG studies indicate the predominant seizure onset zone of musicogenic seizures is the right mesial temporal lobe, yet other regions associated with the cerebral processing of music are also invoked in the epileptogenic zone and networks, resulting in these unique seizures. Conceptualizing the neurobiological processes and clinical features of musicogenic seizures deepens our understanding of the mechanisms involved in music perception and of the ways epileptic networks form.

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Chapter references below omit unverified page ranges and chapter-specific DOIs.

APA

Tokatly Latzer, I., & Pearl, P. L. (2026). Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations. In P. L. Pearl & S. Arfaie (Eds.), Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge University Press.

AMA

Tokatly Latzer I, Pearl PL. Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations. In: Pearl PL, Arfaie S, eds. Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge University Press; 2026.

Vancouver

Tokatly Latzer I, Pearl PL. Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations. In: Pearl PL, Arfaie S, editors. Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2026.

Chicago

Tokatly Latzer, Itay, and Phillip L. Pearl. “Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations.” In Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity, edited by Phillip L. Pearl and Saman Arfaie. Cambridge University Press, 2026.

BibTeX

@incollection{chapter19_2026,
  author = {Tokatly Latzer, Itay and Pearl, Phillip L},
  title = {Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations},
  booktitle = {Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity},
  editor = {Pearl, Phillip L. and Arfaie, Saman},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  year = {2026}
}

Harvard

Tokatly Latzer, I. and Pearl, P. L. (2026) “Musicogenic Seizures and Musical Hallucinations”, in Pearl, P.L. and Arfaie, S. (eds.) Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Itay Tokatly Latzer

Itay Tokatly Latzer

MD

Physician, Department of Neurology

Boston Children’s Hospital · Harvard Medical School · Tel Aviv University

Profile

Itay Tokatly Latzer is a physician affiliated with the Department of Neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University. His contributions to this volume connect the cerebral processing of music with clinical phenomena at the boundary of perception and disease, including musicogenic seizures and musical hallucinations.

Scholarship & professional background

His published clinical scholarship includes work on succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency, a disorder of GABA metabolism, and on approaches to inherited neurometabolic epilepsies. He has contributed to the development of a clinical severity scale for this condition and to reviews of GABA-related disease. These studies provide a complementary clinical perspective on the volume’s discussions of music, perception, seizures, and neurological function.

Selected work & perspectives

Research publicationsClinical severity assessment in succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiencyGABA metabolism disorders · Research publication
Phillip L. Pearl

Phillip L. Pearl

MD, FAES, FACNS

Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology | Boston Children’s HospitalWilliam G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology | Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School · Boston Children’s Hospital

Profile

Phillip L. Pearl is Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and William G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He studied at Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music before attending the University of Maryland School of Medicine. His research focuses on inherited metabolic epilepsies, particularly disorders of GABA metabolism. A physician and musician, he has published extensively at the intersection of music and medicine and is Co-Editor in Chief of the seventh edition of Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology.

Scholarship & professional background

His postgraduate training included a pediatric neurology residency at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, followed by fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital. Alongside his work on GABA-related disorders, he has developed educational projects connecting neurology with art and music, including Neurology Through Art and Time. His own musical practice encompasses jazz piano, vibraphone, and drums, informing a sustained interest in how musical experience and clinical neuroscience illuminate one another.

He also serves as Co-Director of the Epilepsy Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society and of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, and a past president of both the Child Neurology Society and the Professors of Child Neurology. His honours include the American Epilepsy Society’s 2024 Fritz E. Dreifuss Award.

Selected work & perspectives

Phillip L. Pearl · Boston Children’s HospitalSwaiman’s Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice · Seventh editionNeuro-Logic: A Primer on LocalizationInherited Metabolic Epilepsies · Second editionResearch, publications, and clinical neuroscienceMusic, epilepsy, and the brain · International League Against EpilepsyFellowship and Fritz E. Dreifuss Award · American Epilepsy SocietyClinical neurophysiology credentials and pediatric EEG guidelines