A term used to denote an "auditory hallucination, the apparent source of which is located in extracorporeal space. The term external auditory hallucination is used in opposition to the term " internal auditory hallucination. Both forms have been reported by individuals with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses, as well as by individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis. Moreover, some individuals experience external as well as internal auditory hallucinations, or are unable to tell the difference. The differential significance of external versus internal auditory hallucinations for the severity of pathology, suggested by no less an authority than the German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), has now been largely discarded. As suggested by the British psychiatrists David Copolov et al. the clarity and distinctness of auditory hallucinations may well have a greater impact on the subjective 'realness' of voices than their subjective localization inside or outside the head. It is not unthinkable, however, that the two types of auditory hallucination differ somewhat as to their neurophys-iological correlates.
References
Blom, J.D., Sommer, I.E.C. (2009). Auditory hallucinations. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology (in press).
Copolov, D., Trauer, T., Mackinnon, A. (2004). On the non-significance of internal versus external auditory hallucinations. Schizophrenia Research, 69, 1-6. Jaspers, K. (1997). Generalpsychopathology. Volume 1. Translated by Hoenig, J., Hamilton, M.W. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.