Dysacusis — Will It Subside?

[Stacken77]

I'm just writing this question out of curiosity. Everyone, please do not take it the wrong way, as I ask in good faith.

What is the deal with dysacusis? How does it impact you all and do you consider it a debilitating symptom?

As I previously wrote, I have experience with very tame dysacusis. Although it was scary, I mainly saw it as a mild annoyance. My impression is that dysacusis does not alter or worsen the baseline, in contrast to spiking, therefore, wouldn't it be something one could habituate to, even though it is very intrusive?

I sincerely wish you all recovery and respite from these conditions,
Stacken

 

[Tau]

Mine is distorted high frequency sounds possibly due to hidden hearing loss. My audiogram is good: <10 dB all the way to 16 kHz. However, drum plates sound like a constant hiss, stuff like that, basically everything lacks depth at high frequencies.

I can't listen to music and it's absolute hell. Even the 'S' sounds in my wife's voice sound louder.

As a word of warning: do not ever up the volume if you can't hear a sound at a high frequency. I could not hear it at all at max volume. But it damaged my ears and it's been 3 weeks like this so far.

 

[Richardfromuk]

I've had dysacusis 12 months now and still have episodes where everything sounds like a crackly buzzy mess with severe clipping and muffling of high frequencies.

 

[brixenbrixen]

Fuck dysacusis! I hate it more than anything on the planet! I had tinnitus and hyperacusis for years and had no idea about sound distortions! What a hell to be honest. Mine has a mind of its own. One minute I won't notice it, the next all I hear is beeping and fluttering. I want to rip my ears out of my skull.

@Brian Newman, how do you manage at the moment with your dysacusis? Is there a chance that it gets better? I have developed it recently on top of my severe tinnitus and it is really hard. I hear chainsaws, beeping and whistling on top of many sounds.

 

[Strawberryblonde]

I hear chainsaws, beeping and whistling on top of many sounds.

I have that and it does get better in time. With me I'm not sure if it "healed itself" or the brain just got used to it. It doesn't affect me like it used to. It still likes to rear its head at times, but the anxiety I used to get from it has lessened in time.

 

[ZFire]

@Brian Newman, how do you manage at the moment with your dysacusis? Is there a chance that it gets better? I have developed it recently on top of my severe tinnitus and it is really hard. I hear chainsaws, beeping and whistling on top of many sounds.

Distortions were beyond distracting, but it does seem to get better for most people overtime. That was the case for me as well as others (Brian too I believe). I haven't heard mine or notice it lately (almost 2 months now).

I made a thread about a musician battling dysacusis if you're interested. There might be some useful information there for you (he recovered btw).

I have that and it does get better in time. With me I'm not sure if it "healed itself" or the brain just got used to it. It doesn't affect me like it used to. It still likes to rear its head at times, but the anxiety I used to get from it has lessened in time.

Yeah, I think there's something the brain does to 'heal' it. I've noticed it too. They don't bother me as much when they do reappear. I think the brain will eventually retune these distortions so that things can sound normal again or close to normal at least. I also think brain reinterprets these new patterns as normal overtime, hence the less distress that one receives from it. Time is the best healer for distortions, literally speaking. Even someone like @Matchbox, who probably has the worst case of distortions here, has seen improvements too. I believe he's gone on record to say his distortions have DRAMATICALLY improved with time.

 

[TheCapybara]

I've been dealing with dysacusis for nearly a year now and it's definitely improved since, though not completely gone. But there's far less in beeps and weird noises on top of sounds than there used to be, and the distortions seem to react less to certain sounds now.

But I still need to be careful, anything loud can always cause a bit of a setback for a while (I know the NY fireworks did) and then the beeps can come back for a short period again.

It's such a weird condition to be dealing with. I still don't fully understand it even now.

 

[brixenbrixen]

Hei @ZFire and @Strawberryblonde, thanks for your encouraging answers that give me hope.

@TheCapybara, thanks for your information - I appreciate it a lot.

 

[twa]

The tinnitus is pretty much non existent at this point. I hear it only in a completely silent room and if I search for it (it used to be so loud even the shower wouldn't mask it).

How are you doing? I was happy to read that your tinnitus was better.

twa

 

[orenge01]

I still have mine after a year. I just do my best to avoid sounds that aggravate it.

I've had mine for two years now.

It has gotten better, but it's still noticeable and continues to bother me. I often regret my past decisions. :/

I hope you're having a better day than I am today.

 

[star-affinity]

I've had mine for two years now.

It has gotten better, but it's still noticeable and continues to bother me. I often regret my past decisions. :/

I hope you're having a better day than I am today.

I also hate the feeling of regret. It's exhausting to know there's no way to change the past, yet the mind keeps replaying it over and over again. But I believe it usually does get better with time.

I'm sorry to hear you're not doing well (I'm in the same boat, unfortunately). I wish you all the best and hope everything improves with time.

 

[orenge01]

I also hate the feeling of regret. It's exhausting to know there's no way to change the past, yet the mind keeps replaying it over and over again. But I believe it usually does get better with time.

I'm sorry to hear you're not doing well (I'm in the same boat, unfortunately). I wish you all the best and hope everything improves with time.

I hope so too, thanks! It feels like I'm losing more and more of my hearing every year. There have been many situations where I've been reckless, and now those decisions are catching up to me. Not using earplugs consistently when I'm in the city is one example. Also, I've spent prolonged periods listening to music or other audio—sometimes for many hours straight without giving my ears a break.

I'd like to take control of my life regarding tinnitus and hearing loss, but I feel like I'm constantly slipping backward because of poor decisions. Sometimes, things just happen, and there's nothing I can do about it.

 

[Nick47]

Prednisone helped me too considerably... but it isn't worth it as I ALWAYS got much worse tapering off (yet to resolve).

I noticed a significant reduction in my sound reactivity, though not necessarily tinnitus, while taking Prednisolone. This made me wonder what specific inflammation it was targeting. I experienced similar effects with Clonazepam and Zopiclone. However, I avoid Zopiclone because I disliked how it made me feel. Although it was effective in helping me fall asleep, it didn't maintain sleep for long.