Did you feel ear-stabbing pain when your hyperacusis was at its worst? Like, did you hear a sound and feel the pain instantly? You say you had loudness hyperacusis only. No noxacusis? Thanks for the help.
@Jupiterman, I am able to live my life almost as I did before hyperacusis. I am still conscious of my environment but am even able to go to occasionally attend be in loud environments (85-90 dB) provided I wear ear protection. I typically refrain from doing so often and would most certainly leave at the first signs of discomfort. I would consider this about 90% healed although this is hard quantify exactly. I attend these places at my own risk, but have not even noticed an increase in tinnitus (although I'm quite sure I would eventually incur a setback if I did so more than occasionally).
@volterra, very sorry to hear you are new to hyperacusis. Overall, the condition is complicated. The main thing above all is to simply avoid making it worse. However, I included a series of other ways in which I felt progress was accelerated and minor setbacks were alleviated.
Hey @Jerad, I'm not sure if I would describe it as stabbing pain but I definitely felt a discomforting sensation instantly. The source of my irritation and discomfort came from the tympanic membrane. My eardrums would produce this spasm like sensation immediately when exposed to these sounds. These sounds would startle me and I would wince every single time. It felt grating to my ears and I was unable to tolerate it. But there was no lingering pains whatsoever. No stabbing or burning. The discomfort happened only in the moment of exposure.
I have had loudness hyperacusis for a little over two years. I do not experience pain. I do experience a physiological reaction to certain sounds in the form of a popping/crackling sensation. I also experience a worsening of tinnitus after a long day of hearing a lot of uncomfortable noise. I am working on trying to calm my central nervous system with meditation, tai chi, etc. I wonder how much of my auditory issues are from anxiety/depression and how much is physiological damage. My hearing loss has been measured as mild with it dipping into moderate at one frequency.
Hello @ZFire, this has been the case for me also. Almost like every, and I mean every small sound that you could pick up, is amped up. Usually I don't react much to louder (rather normal sounds for people) sounds when my ears are more sensitive. It has instead been the low volume sounds that have irritated me the most.
@ZFire, I've definitely experienced what you describe about the light fixtures and the fridge. Very unsettling stuff. I've also experienced the spasming and still do sometimes. When that happens the sound will also sometimes distort in my ear. My pain these days isn't really stabbing or burning, but more of a dull ache inside the ear going to the jaw. I get a fullness sensation in the ear, and my jaw feels like it's about to crack when I open it but doesn't. Like a painful blocked ear feeling but spreading to the jaw and cheek. When it gets bad, it goes further into my neck and temples/head. I feel this pain could be more of a fatigue / muscular thing, possibly a result of "loudness", rather than full-on noxacusis. That's why I was wondering what your experience had been like.
THIS.
Yes, I had that distorting effect too. It happened every time I would close doors shut or if water was splashing on surfaces. I still experience it sometimes, but it's not as prevalent. This should all stabilize for you too. I thought I was never going to recover, but it happened. It should be the same case for many others too.
Yup. My ears were picking up sounds from kilometers away it seemed (ambulance sirens for example). Weird stuff.
No and I still have no real answers to this. I learned all I could here.
@Shizune, you have quite an interesting case. I have not heard of anyone losing balance due to hyperacusis flare ups. I am very sorry that a medical professional gave you wrong advice. Are you sensitive especially to artificial noise as well?
@NBH, thank you for reading! Luckily, I did not have sound distortions through the process of recovery. However, I did notice after a minor or major setback, my hearing would sound muffled and noticeably different than usual. Perhaps most notably, I have lost the ability to sense the location of sound as easily—even after having mostly recovered.
@ECP, it is very interesting you make that comparison. I agree entirely. Tinnitus and hyperacusis can be incredibly tiring. They both demotivate and act as weights on the psyche, although for different reasons. Strangely, I had chronic fatigue for a considerable part of my life. I was simply unable to sleep for longer than 6 hours which caused constant drowsiness past about 1PM.
@Jerad, I'm not sure if your question regarding ear stabbing pain was for me. However, I do not want to miss it in case it is! Yes, I did have stabbing pain during major setbacks. This was almost always a sign of a major setback. I would get sharp and electric jolts of pain when I tried to sleep. I would they typically wake up with a lower tolerance to sound the following day. However, they are not common and thankfully, only happen when I push my ears severely over my noise tolerance.
I should clarify a bit. When I say balance loss I mean more like sound "knocks me off my feet" because the sensation is so loud and causes such an extreme body reaction. Actual balance loss isn't a huge issue for me but I have heard of it with others. True vestibular hyperacusis exists but it's quite rare.
Hello @ZFire.
@Shizune, I see! Thank you for clarifying, I am very glad the hyperacusis does not cause balance issues for you. I wish you the best of luck with recovery.
Good advice, thank you. I have had tinnitus and hyperacusis with pain for about 11 weeks. It is very loud, and I get stabbing sensations throughout the day from ordinary sounds. It feels like there's an elephant using my eardrum as a trampoline. My memory and attention span are so compromised by these symptoms, but ever since you mentioned the bandwidth thing, I've felt a little better. It was unhealthy of me to beat myself up for not getting things done.
Hey, thanks a lot for the story. I have recently re-started my hyperacusis journey after about 13 years without problem and it has slowly got worse. I was wondering exactly what you mean regarding minor hearing loss. Do you remember which frequencies are down and by how many dB compared to the rest of your audiogram?
Sorry to hear about your second bout with hyperacusis and your recent worsening. Is there any event you can link these developments to, or did they come out of nowhere?
I mean there wasn't an obvious event. I go out a few times a month and play gigs on average once a month. But nothing out of the ordinary.
You've been dealing with ear problems for way longer than me so I don't feel there's much I can advise you on, but if it helps, I've had something similar to this for a few weeks after my acoustic trauma. I'd get a high-pitched resonance in my right ear over certain specific sounds, namely relatively low volume, sustained ones. Fans, refrigerators, noisy lightbulbs, the wind. It has mostly subsided now. Sometimes I feel like I still hear the "resonant" frequencies a bit louder in my right ear than my left, but I'm usually able to not think about it too much.
Thanks man!
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