Short-Term Hyperacusis Caused by Vagus Nerve Stimulation

I'm always trying to think of ways to manage my tinnitus, as I think this is a solvable problem, we just need time.

I'd read a while back some docs think the Vagus nerve has something to do with it so I Googled Vagus nerve stimulation techniques.

One of the techniques was grabbing your ears and slowly moving them in a circular motion. I did that for a few minutes, a few times, and didn't think anything of it.

The next day I experienced what I believe you all describe as hyperacusis. There was a very specific frequency that my left ear was reacting to that never happened before. I believe it was 1,420 Hz. Whenever a sound with that frequency peaked, it would send a sharp ringing to my brain.

I know the exact frequency because I edit music as a hobby, and that's how I identified this bout of hyperacusis. Often when editing music you will identify resonances produced by sounds and you can notch them out with an equalizer. I thought I found a resonance in a sound that day but it was actually my hyperacusis lol.

I noticed that it was hyperacusis because I just could not kill that frequency... I had to place that notch on the entire song to stop it, which is rarely something you need to do in music editing. Then when I was in my car I noticed it happening in there too just listening to a podcast. The human voice is very prevalent in the 1 kHz range so I put 2 and 2 together.

This was only the second time I've had hyperacusis, although I've had tinnitus for decades. It scared me because whenever I hear a new frequency I don't know if it's ever going to go away. Luckily this bout of hyperacusis went away in 3 days.

I'm making this post to warn people that messing with your ears by doing Vagus nerve stimulations could trigger problems, so beware.