My Pain Hyperacusis Improved Significantly: Went to a Party without Earplugs and Still Fine

[serendipity1996]

The first time I remember reading about the "pill that restores hearing" after noise exposure was like 15 years ago, and it was quoting research that had been done previously, so... would it be fair to say we have been stuck nowhere, in terms of advances for "hearing regeneration" for 2 decades, 20 years?

The difference is that there are now dozens of companies in clinical trials - we have moved beyond basic pre-clinical research in a lab. There's been a clear amount of progression. If you look at what the experts are saying, e.g. Charles Liberman, they say that the biotech in this area has really taken off in the past 5 years and are optimistic for future treatments.

 

[Sevv]

From my personal experience and opinion, there's three conditions that need to be differentiated:

1. Phonophobia
2. Acoustic shock
3. Hyperacusis

If you only have phonophobia, normal loud sounds cant hurt you, even if you fear that they do. So once you see that it's actually just your emotions, recovery can be very quick.

If you are susceptible to acoustic shock or have hyperacusis, trigger sounds will give you pain. In the case of acoustic shock, the mechanism seems to be an exaggerated fear response that leads to cramping of the ear muscles which causes the pain. It can be improved if the fear response is lowered but is more difficult to treat than phonophobia. If you have hyperacusis, you just get pain (immediate or prolonged) after a trigger sound. Of course it's often fear and pain, but with hyperacusis the pain is not tied to the fear response unlike acoustic shock; and phonophobia is just fear.

In my case it's like this: I have phonophobia for many/most loud sounds. I react with acoustic shock pain to some loud sounds that aren't outright damaging but I can sort of treat this pain by looking for the fear that is tied to the experience of acoustic shock and work on it. For some time I thought that I actually don't have hyperacusis anymore but I found out I was mistaken. Yesterday in a game I was exposed to a at max. 60 dB wine-glass sound (you know, moving your fingers on the rim) which gave me an immediate stabbing. One ear still burns today. This sound objectively cannot harm me (not loud enough) and I'm not sure if there's a lot of fear tied to it (differentiating it from acoustic shock) but that one seemed an obvious case of hyperacusis. It makes sense because my only hearing loss is in the very high frequencies.

 

[Juan]

The difference is that there are now dozens of companies in clinical trials - we have moved beyond basic pre-clinical research in a lab. There's been a clear amount of progression. If you look at what the experts are saying, e.g. Charles Liberman, they say that the biotech in this area has really taken off in the past 5 years and are optimistic for future treatments.

I am afraid I do not have so much time to wait for a treatment. My hyperacusis is not recent, I have been suffering from this for many years, and my hearing is now getting worse by the day. Now I do have trouble understanding speech, TV, phone etc

Hyperacusis was worse than hearing loss in terms of pain, etc but the consequences of hearing loss are worse, as I need my hearing to interact with others and work.

 

[weab00]

I am afraid I do not have so much time to wait for a treatment. My hyperacusis is not recent, I have been suffering from this for many years, and my hearing is now getting worse by the day. Now I do have trouble understanding speech, TV, phone etc

Hyperacusis was worse than hearing loss in terms of pain, etc but the consequences of hearing loss are worse, as I need my hearing to interact with others and work.

I'm sorry to hear about your hyperacusis and hearing loss, both are extremely isolating and depressing. But hang in there man, a cure or effective treatment is coming in the very near future, though it seems intangible right now.

 

[serendipity1996]

I am afraid I do not have so much time to wait for a treatment. My hyperacusis is not recent, I have been suffering from this for many years, and my hearing is now getting worse by the day. Now I do have trouble understanding speech, TV, phone etc

Hyperacusis was worse than hearing loss in terms of pain, etc but the consequences of hearing loss are worse, as I need my hearing to interact with others and work.

Sorry to hear about this - I'm just hoping that the increasing amount of research will translate into meaningful treatments for us. Hyperacusis and hearing loss are so isolating and truly do suck. Keeping my fingers crossed for all of us stuck in this predicament.