Name of a short story about the ultimate earworm

There's a classic short story I remember where a scientist gets interested in the songs that get stuck in peoples heads, and decides to create the ultimate earworm song by having a computer analyse brain waves while generating music.

It ends with the music being discovered, but it's too perfect and puts people in to comas, except for one guy that's tone deaf.

It may also have been adapted for a radio drama.

Answer

The first answer to this question probably includes whatever story you're thinking of. I think most likely "The Ultimate Melody" by Arthur C Clarke:

Lister theorized that a great melody "made its impression on the mind because it fitted in with the fundamental electrical rhythms going on in the brain." Lister attempts to abstract from the hit tunes of the day to a melody that fits in so well with the electrical rhythms that it dominates them completely. He succeeds and is found in a catatonic state from which he never awakens.

Comments

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