Get that worm out of my ear!

James Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati, has studied extensively what makes songs get stuck in our heads.

He says that “earworms”, which occur in between 80 and 90 precent of people, are simply a matter of repetition and exposure.

“The MTV generation often gets top-40 songs stuck in their heads.  Baby boomers – the TV generation – often get old TV and cartoon theme songs stuck,” Kellaris tells the Daily Gazette.  “I suspect that Tibetan monks get Buddhist chants stuck in their heads.”

Although research has shown that some music may contain certain properties that make it more “catchy”, virtually any song can become an earworm.

Kellaris recommends letting the earworm go away on its own, because fighting it tends to make it stick around longer.

Read the full article here.