Can My Hyperacusis Improve So That I Can Listen to Music with Headphones Again?

[chinup]

I know it's potentially a bit off topic, but I started testing a hearing aid yesterday. I'd had a pretty substantial fear that they would aggravate my hyperacusis, but to my stunning surprise they did the opposite. Immediately after putting them in, the loudness/pain from my own and other peoples voices was significantly reduced! It has been an amazing relief. Also, listening to music is much more enjoyable again and my tinnitus is way less reactive to it!

And the even crazier thing is that after I take them out, the reduced hyperacusis seems to be enduring, as if the hearing aids have been reconditioning my brain. I've woken up two days in a row now with maybe a 40-50% reduction in hyperacusis. This is crazy.

Anyone with hyperacusis and the possibility to try a hearing aid should definitely give it a shot!

That's great to hear! Please keep us updated on your progress.

 

[Taw]

I'm trying out the Phonak Audéo Paradise P90. I've been listening without headphones on good speakers, but I tried briefly with my Bose over-ear headphones too and it works just fine. No feedback or so.

The increase in volume is very, very slight and only in the frequencies where I have the audiogram -dips. The amplification is mostly around 5 dB and on some frequencies up to 7 dB if I remember correctly, even though my audiogram dips down to 35-45 dB in the worst areas. When I put the hearing aids on I notice barely any increase in volume, but the clarity-difference is pretty noticeable. And when listening to music and switching them on/off the difference is profound.

After experiencing this first hand I more clearly understand the difference between WIN scores and pure tone scores. It wouldn't surprise me if my pure tone scores actually didn't increase even when wearing these hearing aids, but I'm pretty sure my WIN scores would. Maybe I can ask my audiologist if he could do a test on me wearing them when I'm bringing them back in late January.

Thanks a lot for the info.

So basically the audiologist recommended them to you because you have some hearing loss on some frequencies, but it seems to help also on other frequencies. I hope I understood correctly.

If I'm not mistaken, you listen to headphones with the hearing aids on?

I am very curious what wonders do these hearing aids do, in order to help your hyperacusis. But it's great news if they help, especially because they are quite expensive from what I see.

 

[Philip83]

Thanks a lot for the info.

So basically the audiologist recommended them to you because you have some hearing loss on some frequencies, but it seems to help also on other frequencies. I hope I understood correctly.

If I'm not mistaken, you listen to headphones with the hearing aids on?

I am very curious what wonders do these hearing aids do, in order to help your hyperacusis. But it's great news if they help, especially because they are quite expensive from what I see.

Actually, the audiologist said that as long as you pick a hearing aid from the latest generation, they don't really differ much between brands. I did some research and picked these ones myself.

And the fitting procedure for hearing aids is pretty much standardised internationally as I understand it. He uses the same software that I've seen people from other countries post screenshots from on the forum. You do a pure-tone test and then he feeds that data into the software, which in tern programs the hearing aids to my values. He can then of course tweak things as he wishes, but we did very little of that. So as far as I'm concerned, this was just a standard hearing aid fitting.

I think the trick to make hearing aids work for hyperacusis is to not over-crank the amplification. Ask your audiologist to start on the lower end on the settings. You can always control this yourself later in the app anyways to the upside.

One thing also to note is that hearing aids companies usually create their different tier models just by applying software locks. The p90 model for the Phonak is €2600 and the p70 is €1500, but they are the exact same hardware. For that extra money all you're getting is some extra software tweaking capabilities that most people probably can live without. I'm planning on getting the p70's once this trial is over.

 

[Philip83]

I've posted a three-week update using my hearing aids in the "Hearing Aids" thread:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/630620/

 

[GoatSheep]

I've posted a three-week update using my hearing aids in the "Hearing Aids" thread:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/630620/

I read over it. Glad you are having great success with the hearing aids! Fascinating that it is clearing up your pain hyperacusis. Hopefully that continues to be the case. Very happy for you.

I have no appreciable hearing loss in the range that even the highest frequency hearing aids cover so I guess no such luck for me. My only experience with hearing aids, was they were going to trial me a pair with a white noise setting. When the audiologist put them on she also turned the hearing aid part on and blasted me in the ear with amplification that made my hyperacusis worse for several days even though she immediately turned it back off.

I was especially angry because she assured me that wouldn't happen before she did the fitting. I told her it was my biggest concern.