Reactive Tinnitus or Sound Sensitive?

[Ilija]

Well where to being, I got Tinnitus as a result of going to a gig where due to my horrible luck the vocalist of a band that was supposed to play didn't show up thus leaving us with the bad, high pitched voice of their deluded base player.
After he let out a really bad shrieking scream my ears hurt for a second during it, this is probably what caused my Tinnitus, as I don't have a history of loud noises, checked my headphones and all but I don't think I ever went past 80-85 dB.
Anyway, I got my Tinnitus from Acoustic Trauma as my ENT's have told me and they seemed confident that it should pass with time, this gave me some reassurance.
My Tinnitus has been decreasing which is great, I can say it's down maybe 70% from the beginning, I have also begun to somewhat habituate to it which is great
Now I am left with, well I can't explain it.
Basically beeping sounds and ringing sounds seem louder than they were before, at times they can be loud enough to cause ear pain.
For instance my PC made a ring sound and now it's a beeping sound it doesn't hurt my ears but it find it annoying the interesting part is that once I stopped really being annoyed by it it went from a ring to a beep I think this is somewhat linked to me really listening for everything during the first few weeks, my best guess is I made my Limbic system turn up the noise of rings and beeps in my ears so it can distinguish between the Tinnitus and real world sounds.
I think this makes the most sense, it's also good cause it'll probably dial down with time.
I'm afraid if it's hair recruitment as that might not go away with the Tinnitus, or in the bad case that the Tinnitus stays it might stay with it forever, not really bad but eh.
It might be some form of Hyperacusis, I'm not sure if it's possible
Misophonia or Phonophobia might also be the case as these sounds really inflicted a big traumatic experience in me, sort of like PTS, whenever I would hear these sound I would start sweating and crying and stuff because I thought it's my Tinnitus being worse this again back up my theory on my ears being sensitive due to the limbic system turning up the noise on those sounds.
I want you guys' suggestion and opinion on the matter as it is somewhat scary.
Today I had a bad day first a screaming child in the lab where I was having my blood taken, my ears hurt a little but it didn't make the Tinnitus worse, then a really loud beeping sound in the store which also bothered me, right now I'm not sure if my Tinnitus is worse or not but it does seem a little louder in my left ear than it was this morning, probably a spike that'll go away in a day or two, always does.
Also I seem to be somewhat sensitive to bass, it doesn't hurt my ears but I hear it with more intensity, I'm scared that my Tinnitus won't go away due to these things, what do you think?
I really wish this will go, I'm somewhat confident it will, short acoustic trauma means I have a better chance of it going rather than if it were due to really bad noise exposure over the years right?
Please post your opinions and your experience's with this.
Thank you

 

[Zimichael]

@Ilija ..I just copied and pasted this in another thread, and seems like relevant for you too. So here you go:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-vs-tinnitus-hyperacusis-some-basic-differences.5110/
On a more comforting note, my hyperacusis seems to go down about 10% per year irrespective, as long as I don't get majorly triggered with more permanent damage. The tinnitus however, does not go down - for me, not you...yours is yet "young" (very short term). So I tend to want to not get more T volume for obvious reasons.
If you are conscious and careful with sound and meds (ototoxicity) in future, you will probably be fine and habituate to the T that remains and happily watch your hyperacusis or whatever, slowly fade off.
Best, Zimichael

 

[billie48]

I agree with Zimichael. My H just faded over time but the T stays. Now I am more habituated to the T and H is no longer there. At the most stage of H, I couldn't bear most sounds, those from TV, restaurants, driving, dishes, parties, not even the soft voice of my wife spoken too close to me. I also thought I had sound-reactive T back then. But with the H slowly fading, the T settles down with noises. Now, I can fly long intercontinental flights without using earplugs and watch cinema movies without earplugs too. Just the fingers and ear buds of my ipod will do. So if anything, don't worry about the H. Protect your ears on really loud sounds but don't over-protect for normal sounds to avoid developing sound sensitivity or phonophobia.

 

[Lisa88]

It is true hyperacusis fades in time for most people. I was just like you my first few months of t. Now 11 months in, I am back to being a musician again. It will get better for you. Give it time. Gradual exposure back to these sounds over time. Don't stress.

 

[Ilija]

It is true hyperacusis fades in time for most people. I was just like you my first few months of t. Now 11 months in, I am back to being a musician again. It will get better for you. Give it time. Gradual exposure back to these sounds over time. Don't stress.

I'm glad to hear it.
The fact that I'm still really early into my Tinnitus gives me comfort in that there's a lot of time for it to get better and eventually if I'm lucky enough go away completely.
It also gives me comfort that while my Tinnitus might not go away there's a good chance of my Hyperacusis going as it is the thing bothering me, I'm more or less habituated to Tinnitus, it's already backround noise, just need for the H to go away and I'll be back to my cheery old self again.

 

[yonkapin]

Stay positive, protect your hearing and you should be sweet.

I began to suffer from severe hyperacusis (and worsened tinnitus) in the middle of last year due to a bad valsalva maneuva. Things were extremely bad: I had constant, agonizing pain in my left ear and around that side of my face, I couldn't tolerate any loud noise, and my right ear was suffering from high frequency distortion. Even soft sounds like clicking my mouse were distorted and amplified in my right ear, it was very uncomfortable.

Thankfully, the high frequency distortion resolved in a couple months, and my hyperacusis has improved leaps and bounds over the last few months (hoping I don't jinx myself here). My tinnitus has also calmed down to the point where I can spend most of the day without the need for background noise when I'm at my computer, I actually spend a lot of the time in silence now.

So, be kind to your ears and don't underestimate the healing power of time!

 

[beemovie]

Well where to being, I got Tinnitus as a result of going to a gig where due to my horrible luck the vocalist of a band that was supposed to play didn't show up thus leaving us with the bad, high pitched voice of their deluded base player.
After he let out a really bad shrieking scream my ears hurt for a second during it, this is probably what caused my Tinnitus, as I don't have a history of loud noises, checked my headphones and all but I don't think I ever went past 80-85 dB.
Anyway, I got my Tinnitus from Acoustic Trauma as my ENT's have told me and they seemed confident that it should pass with time, this gave me some reassurance.
My Tinnitus has been decreasing which is great, I can say it's down maybe 70% from the beginning, I have also begun to somewhat habituate to it which is great
Now I am left with, well I can't explain it.
Basically beeping sounds and ringing sounds seem louder than they were before, at times they can be loud enough to cause ear pain.
For instance my PC made a ring sound and now it's a beeping sound it doesn't hurt my ears but it find it annoying the interesting part is that once I stopped really being annoyed by it it went from a ring to a beep I think this is somewhat linked to me really listening for everything during the first few weeks, my best guess is I made my Limbic system turn up the noise of rings and beeps in my ears so it can distinguish between the Tinnitus and real world sounds.
I think this makes the most sense, it's also good cause it'll probably dial down with time.
I'm afraid if it's hair recruitment as that might not go away with the Tinnitus, or in the bad case that the Tinnitus stays it might stay with it forever, not really bad but eh.
It might be some form of Hyperacusis, I'm not sure if it's possible
Misophonia or Phonophobia might also be the case as these sounds really inflicted a big traumatic experience in me, sort of like PTS, whenever I would hear these sound I would start sweating and crying and stuff because I thought it's my Tinnitus being worse this again back up my theory on my ears being sensitive due to the limbic system turning up the noise on those sounds.
I want you guys' suggestion and opinion on the matter as it is somewhat scary.
Today I had a bad day first a screaming child in the lab where I was having my blood taken, my ears hurt a little but it didn't make the Tinnitus worse, then a really loud beeping sound in the store which also bothered me, right now I'm not sure if my Tinnitus is worse or not but it does seem a little louder in my left ear than it was this morning, probably a spike that'll go away in a day or two, always does.
Also I seem to be somewhat sensitive to bass, it doesn't hurt my ears but I hear it with more intensity, I'm scared that my Tinnitus won't go away due to these things, what do you think?
I really wish this will go, I'm somewhat confident it will, short acoustic trauma means I have a better chance of it going rather than if it were due to really bad noise exposure over the years right?
Please post your opinions and your experience's with this.
Thank you

Short term is bad if the ringing starts. Are you at least wearing a pair of ear plugs now?

 

[beemovie]

Short term is bad if the ringing starts. Are you at least wearing a pair of ear plugs now?

I never listened loud music in my life and was only exposed to a loud sound for a short time.