Different factors have been found that increase the chances of an auditory hallucination happening. Psychological stress, certain predisposing factors, environmental stimulation and some types of reinforcement are some of the factors that have been found to make the chance of getting auditory hallucinations more probable. Lets look at what these factors really mean.
Psychological stress could come in many forms. For some, it may be the stress of turning in a project on time, for others it may be whether you get nominated for prom king or queen. Other people may have a fear of flying or of the dark. Stress could also be as a result of disease like infections and other types of illness. Stress could also be anything that causes a psychological impact such as anxiety or fear even if it is unfounded. As I said before, you could be afraid of going into your garage at night because you just watched "scream", and you are sure that there is a murderer in there. This is a form of stress even though you know in the back of your mind that there probably isn't a real murderer in your garage.
As we know, we sometimes feel that it takes us hours or days to learn things that we feel that it takes some other people a short time to learn and to perform well in. Some people believe that different people have inborn predispositions to be able to do things better or faster than others with less practice. An example of this are musical prodigies who are able to play Handel's "Messiah" when they are four. These kids are thought to have some kind of innate affinity for beoing able to play these instruments and can be said to be predisposed to do that. In the same way some have theorized that everybody may have a predisposition to different things and that some people are predisposed to having auditory hallucinations.
The effect of the environment also plays a big part in the development of auditory hallucinations. Many cases of auditory hallucinations have occurred when there was a low amount of environmental sensory deprivation. By this we mean that if it is very quiet and there is no source of sound stimulation available it is more likely that a person will develop an auditory hallucination. This may be a reason that there are many reports of auditory hallucinations by people who are placed in solitary confinement or isolation. Sensory deprivation as a factor contributing to the cause of auditory hallucinations is evidenced by the phenomenon that people hear auditory hallucinations more often when it is quiet than in a noisy area.
The other variable which may contribute to the auditory hallucination is the factor of the reinforcing nature of an auditory hallucination. Granted when we thiank of auditory hallucinations, many of us would think of a loud banging or clanking noise which is agitating ang annoying and which you would do anything to be rid of. Well, consider if your auditory hallucination was one where you hear the voice of a member of the opposite sex saying how handsome or cute you are and a lot of other nice things about you. You would probably want to hear that voice a whole lot more, because it would make you feel good. Well, when auditory hallucinations make the person having them feel good, they are said to be reinforcing. It is not unusual to come across people who do have auditory hallucinations and want to continue to have them because of this effect.