Phonophobia, Hyperacusis and Actually Dangerous Sounds: How to Tell the Difference?

[Dogwhistlehead]

So I have tinnitus, hyperacusis and I have also developed phonophobia.

Short story for context:

I got tinnitus in 2013, probably due to noise trauma. I habituated eventually and was fine for many years until this summer when I was exposed to an acoustic shock at work. This gave me a new bothersome high frequency noise in my head. As mentioned, I have also gotten some hyperacusis and developed phonophobia.

I find it very difficult in my mind to separate between sounds that are just perceived as loud, that are uncomfortable, and sounds that are outright harmful. The result of this is constant worrying about sounds that might appear, and sounds I have been exposed to. There is not a single day I am not affected in some way by this. Just in the last two days I had three experiences like this.

First off, I was assembling some furniture yesterday. As this involved some hammering I was of course wearing earmuffs and had no problem with the noise from the hammering. I then bumped my earmuff into a door which of course made a bang. This sent me down a spiral of worry and fear. Is this dangerous?

Secondly, today I ate a bag off M&M's. They were the kind with the crunchy outer layer. They were a little loud to chew so this eventually got me thinking about bone conducting noise from chewing and if the sound was loud enough to damage hearing. Was this dangerous?

Lastly, I was taking the tram to work today while bumping my head in the hand railing in the ceiling. I was wearing AirPods Pro (I know this is not recommended but I only use them to cancel out the noise on the tram and play some low volume white noise while awaiting delivery for my BTE masking devices). The AirPods seals just inside the opening of the ears. This gives them quite an occluding effect which made the bump sound quite loud. Here we go again and I'm wondering if this is just my fear and hyperacusis speaking or if it was actually dangerously loud?

Whether any of these noises are actually dangerous or not I don't know, but I sure do worry about them.

What do you think? Does anybody have experiences like this?

All answers are deeply appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[haha ear go eeee]

Do you know if you have just loudness hyperacusis? Or noxacusis? You can have both as well. Are the sounds that you don't like causing actual pain in your ears, or is it more just an overwhelmed response? Any long lasting pain from noise exposure in your ears?

If you believe you have noxacusis, you should avoid any sound that causes pain, regardless of the decibel level.

 

[Dogwhistlehead]

Do you know if you have just loudness hyperacusis? Or noxacusis? You can have both as well. Are the sounds that you don't like causing actual pain in your ears, or is it more just an overwhelmed response? Any long lasting pain from noise exposure in your ears?

If you believe you have noxacusis, you should avoid any sound that causes pain, regardless of the decibel level.

Thank you for your response. It's just regular hyperacusis I believe. I do get some irritation and tickling sometimes after loud and sudden sounds, but this is just my ear muscles tensing up a bit, but I wouldn't call it painful. I also have something which I believe has to do with my Eustachian tubes that comes and goes although my ENT can't tell me what this is, but this is also not painful, just annoying from time to time.

 

[Dogwhistlehead]

I am so furious right now! I work the night shift at a hospital and have been doing my rounds being very vigilant about and avoiding possible noise exposures with success. I was very happy that I was able to avoid any loud bangs this time. Then I enter the office/break room where I can finally relax for the rest of the night in peace and quiet without worry. The first thing that happens when I enter is that my college lets out an obnoxiously loud sneeze two meters away from me! It was LOUD! I of course googled how loud a sneeze could get and read about some record where a man sneezed at 176 dB. This was of course in a lab where cases are made to be extreme, but even if it was 30 dB lower, it would still be enough to cause damage to my ear! Here we go again! So much for being able to get some peace and quiet for once. I am so angry and distraught now!

 

[Jupiterman]

I have posted this a few times regarding sneezes.

They are effectively sharp, high frequency explosions. Even our own sneezes can worsen our condition.

If you do a search on what I have already posted on sneezes, you'll get some advice.