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Named for ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', for [[Added Alliterative Appeal]], but one of the more common uses is for new telepaths to go mad from all the voices around them.
 
Compare [[Brown Note]] (where anyone can hear the sound) and [[Out, Damned Spot!]] (the visual version of this trope). And, of course, [[Hearing Voices]], which is technically a subtrope.
{{examples|Examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
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* Inverted in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' novel ''The Clockwise Man'' - everyone could hear the ticking ''except'' Repple.
* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''The Telltale Heart''.
* [[Cats Hate Water|Aquaphobic]] villainess Queen Tsarmina of the ''[[Redwall]]'' series is driven to insanity by the sound of dripping water, which her minions [[ItsIt's Probably Nothing|assume are the normal noises from the underground lake]]. {{spoiler|Subverted in that it's not her imagination; the good guys have dammed the river and are causing said lake to overflow and slowly flood the castle.}} Also, in the same series, Gabool the Wild is kept awake by the sound of a stolen church-bell in his hall ringing on its own, though on one occasion it's not his imagination; his drunken followers throw apples at the bell while he's out of the room.
** Then the noise goes away, and Tsarmina is at peace; except the reason it's gone away is that {{spoiler|now it's not just dripping, there's too much water for that.}}
* In ''Brain Twister'' (aka ''That Sweet Little Old Lady'') by [[Randall Garrett (Creator)|Randall Garrett]] and Laurence M. Janifer, telepaths invariably go mad from the voices. Most of them wind up comatose or raving -- the one notable exception being the titular little old lady, who would be able to easily pass for sane if she didn't keep confiding in people that she's actually [[Napoleon Delusion|Queen Elizabeth I]].
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* In an episode of Disney's ''[[The Legend of Tarzan (Animation)|The Legend of Tarzan]]'', Tarzan's animal friends go crazy, complete with the [[Madness Mantra]] "Stop the ringing!" Turns out the local trading post had installed a long-range radio tower, and something in the equipment was generating an ultrasonic noise that was doing this to Tantor, Terk, and the rest. The humans couldn't hear it, but it was driving the animals nuts for miles.
* [[Popeye]] did this in the short "Me Musical Nephews", destroying a radio before discovering that his nephews weren't really asleep.
* Mr. Krabs in the ''[[Spongebob SquarePants]]'' episode "Squeaky Boots". He unloads a pair of old boots on SpongeBob and is driven crazy by their constant squeaking. He steals them one night and hides them, but then he starts to hear squeaking everywhere until he is driven to madness, a [[Whole -Plot Reference]] to ''Tell-Tale Heart''.
** The same thing happens in ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Lisa's Rival."
* A water faucet in the late 40's [[Donald Duck]] short ''Drip Dippy Donald'', and an alarm clock in the [[Mouse Works]]-era ''Hickory Dickory Mickey''.
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