It's a form of classical conditioning, somewhat like Pavlov's famous experiment in which dogs, when given food, also heard a ringing bell.
The woman who demanded two ears of corn before she had even opened the menu at a local seafood restaurant must have heard a ringing in her ears when we discussed her antics.
When I finally reached you days later at midnight on the phone, you said, "Oh yeah, I heard a ringing in my room, I didn't know what that buzzing sound was".
Just after the adoption last month of the global goals for sustainable development, world leaders heard a ringing call from Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was flanked in the General Assembly Hall by young people from around the world.
Instead of hearing a ring when you call her cell phone, you hear Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon". She wants callers to understand just whom they are dealing with.
He tried Facebook's phone tool and was amazed to hear a ring at his ear.
It is rare today for a high-profile American to hear a ringing public endorsement abroad.
As he glances at the headlines, he hears a ringing in his ears.
Intentional or not, audio experts say fooling the ear into hearing a ringing phone isn't hard.
When a microphone was placed in its ear, everyone could hear a ringing tone — the result, it turned out, of an oversensitive tympanic membrane.
