How loud are the tones? Will the procedure make tinnitus worse?
Not loud at all. I had an MRI with 30dB earplugs in and that was still many times louder than tympanometry. Oddly, there is another post that thinks theirs may have been made worse by tympanometry, but it made no difference at all to mine.
How about other tests? Hearing test beeps are loud as hell... How about any other tests they do?
I guess you suffer with pretty severe hyperacusis. My hearing comes back as "normal", so I can hear most of them very clearly and I don't regard the louder ones as particularly loud - even though I do suffer hyperacusis. The whole point is to see how quietly you can hear, so there is no need for them to start out loudly. Perhaps you could ask that it starts at 60 or 70 dBA?
Is there any real good reason to even perform them... It's not like they are going to be able to make tinnitus/hyperacusis go away or what.
It's a good question. I suppose if you have had these tests before and they were normal and you have no reason to suspect a change, then maybe there isn't a point. However, I do know someone that suffers with tinnitus as a consequence of severely notched hearing loss and whenever he puts his hearing aid in, the tinnitus almost vanishes, as his auditory system is no longer putting so much gain into those frequencies.
Tympanometry is also pretty useless at identifying all but the most severe of middle ear issues. Based on my symptoms I was diagnosed with ETD by 2 different doctors, but on both occasions the tympanometry came back as within range of normal. Effectively, I don't have a middle ear filled with fluid, so the gummy and narrowed tubes don't show up - for some people, it just doesn't work.
Taken from the NHS research paper Interventions for adult Eustachian tube dysfunction: a systematic review:
"Eustachian tube dysfunction may occur when the mucosal lining of the tube is swollen, or does not open or close properly. It can occur after the start of a cold and other nose, sinus, ear and throat infections. If the tube is dysfunctional, symptoms such as muffled hearing, pain, tinnitus, reduced hearing, a feeling of fullness in the ear or problems with balance may occur. Long-term ETD has been associated with damage to the middle ear and the eardrum. Complications include otitis media with effusion (glue ear), middle ear atelectasis (retraction of the eardrum) and chronic otitis media. The precise function and mechanisms of the Eustachian tube, the underlying causes of dysfunction and the broader problems associated with middle ear ventilation are complex and not fully understood. From a diagnostic perspective, ETD is also poorly defined.
There are a number of treatment options aimed at improving Eustachian tube function, but there is limited consensus about management."
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