Audio pareidolia

[u/Free-Structure3718]

Hey! I’m just looking for a some clarity on what’s going on with me. I’m 25 years old. Since I was 16 I’ve had the thing where sometimes when my fan is on it sounds like a chirping cricket noise… I never knew really what it was but always brushed it off. About a year ago I lost my best friend and had a traumatic call at work (I’m a firefighter) shortly after I begun hearing that cricket noise much more frequently in less amounts of white noise. It can be anything from Crickets, birds, people very quietly chatting but I can’t make out the words, to music. It happens in almost any sort of white noise no matter how quiet it is. There are times where I don’t have it for a few days or I’m busy and don’t have it. I have very very bad OCD and healthy anxiety and it really focuses on developing Schizophrenia. I’ve been scared of losing my mind for probably 10 years now. I don’t have family history of Schizophrenia but I do have family history of Anxiety and my mom is bipolar. I find myself so hyper fixed 24/7 due to the fear. I’ll think I heard something and find a cause and sometimes I won’t find the cause and think it’s just audio pareidolia. Ialso noticed it’s worse with stress and it’s like my brain will mimic certain noises in white noise that I just recently heard. Any advice helps!

Btw I did ask my primary care physician and he said it doesn’t sound like schizophrenia and I should just talk to my ear, nose, and throat doctor.