UNSCRAMBLE AN ANAGRAM
In a Western Washington University study, participants did puzzles to try to cure earworms. Five-letter anagrams worked best.
CHEW GUM
Three minutes of gnashing on a stick of gum is the cure for earworms recommended by a recent Journal Of Experimental Psychology study. Works for Maroon 5 infections, apparently.
USE A ‘CURE SONG’
In a 2014 study by PLOS ONE, 12 per cent of participants said they tried to remove their earworms by listening to other songs that wouldn’t stick.
REPLACE IT
The site unhearit.com claims to help you ‘unhear’ songs by playing you equally catchy ones. Presumably some sort of sick joke…
SOLVE SUDOKUS
Western Washington University found that sudoku puzzles worked, but only if they were of an optimum difficulty level.
JUST PLAY THE DAMN THING
Some people insist that the best way to deal with an annoying snippet of music is to listen to the offending tune in its entirety.
Follow Science Focus on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flipboard
