Scientists at the Center for Hearing Loss Help based in Washington have explained the strange and often frightening phenomenon when people in the woods hear someone calling their names, even though there is no one around, reports Live Science.

According to researchers, such incidents often give rise to stories of ghosts and otherworldly forces. However, this phenomenon is not related to mysticism and is an auditory subtype of pareidolia.

Pareidolia is a type of perceptual illusion. Usually people encounter its optical version, for example, when they see faces or other meaningful patterns in ambiguous images.

Auditory pareidolia is not considered a type of auditory hallucination, which occurs when a person hears sounds that do not exist in reality and transpire appear without any external stimulus, such as white noise.

In auditory pareidolia, the sounds a person hears are caused by the brain's misperception of real noise coming from a thicket or other source.

Scientists have noted that this process is related to the constant work of the brain to search for and perceive patterns in the world around us. In these cases, the brain utilizes a process called contrast gain control, adjusting the sensitivity of brain cells that respond to auditory and visual data so they can adapt to the constant input.

Experts added that hearing voices and other sounds in complete silence is a serious symptom, for which you should seek the help of a specialist.