So... What's the Prognosis for Hyperacusis? — I'm 6 Months Into Severe Hyperacusis

[Marko Nakovski]

I think it will never go completely away for 100 % but I think it can get much better.

Everyone who has tinnitus from acoustic trauma also have some level of hyperacusis, at least some mild degree. My father has tinnitus and mild hyperacusis, my friend, the owner of my gym and I had mild hyperacusis too before my idiotic decision. All of them can't go to nightclubs without earplugs, can't stand motorcycles and drills.

However it's much much different than having severe hyperacusis, at least with mild hyperacusis you can have life without restrictions ...

 

[Michael Leigh]

@dpdx stop telling people that it can not go away. There's a people on this forum that's had their H go away. No need to bring others down, just cause yours hasn't gone away.

@Adriel93

You are absolutely correct. I once had very severe hyperacusis that I have written about in this forum many times. It was completely cured in two years using white noise generators as part of TRT. That was 22 years ago and I still have no symptoms of hyperacusis.

Michael

 

[Michael Leigh]

I have had mild hyperacusis for a couple of years, but now I'm 6 months into severe hyperacusis. I just celebrated 3 months since my last setback. While the tinnitus decreased during the first month, extreme hyperacusis is still there.

What is the prognosis? I read that a lot of people get better with hyperacusis, but is that generally within the first X months?

Getting desperate and I am considering trying TRT or Pink Noise.

Hyperacusis often improves without treatment or with self help. In more severe circumstances it may require the using white noise generators as part of TRT. If your hyperacusis used to be mild and gradually got worse, there are usually reasons for this. Have you been using headphones or going to places where loud music is played. Even if the music isn't loud it can still aggravate hyperacusis.

TRT is a good treatment and can be helpful for tinnitus and hyperacusis. However, in order to get good results you need to have proper TRT and not a scaled down version of it. Alternatively you could try self help that I have written about in my post: Hyperacusis, As I see it, in the link below.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

[Juan]

@Juan So you can listen to some sounds, your ears will not hurt at the moment and after one or even few days you can have delayed pain from those sounds as a cause?

1) Yeah, you can get delayed fullness and pain from sounds that do not seem so loud when they happen. I have one example: imagine you are driving with windows up and earplugs and you hear a loud car horn somewhere around. Maybe at that time it does not seem so loud, but after a couple of hours or the day after you can still get the hyperacusis reaction and all the symptoms. It could be due to pressure inside your ear, due to earplugs being wrinkled, or it could be due to a light cold or inflammation. Basically if the pressure of your ears is altered the way you experience sound and the assessment of loudness could be not accurate, and then there is a delayed reaction.

2) On the contrary, there are times when your hearing is ok and a sound that is not so loud triggers inmediately hyperacusis symptoms like fullness. An example of this is being around the kitchen and dealing with plastic bottles, dishes etc They make some annoying sounds and can make hyperacusis click inmediately but here there is no reason to worry.

As you see hyperacusis is complicated because in example 1) the sound is objectively loud and can make some damage but the reaction is delayed and in number 2) the sound is not a super loud sound but triggers an inmediate reaction that will go away and you will be back to baseline.

 

[Contrast]

with mild hyperacusis you can have life without restrictions ...

How do you define mild hyperacusis?

it still means mild burning pain and facial aches around high pitch noises like a bird chirping, but lemme guess the mild burning pain isn't suppose to bother because of habituation?

 

[Marko Nakovski]

@Contrast With mild hyperacusis there is not that kind of pain. At least that was in my case. I may be wrong but I think that only severe cases are experiencing this, which I am now ... By burning pain I don't mean when one is exposed to loud sounds and then as a cause their ears hurt, instead I mean when one isn't even being exposed to some noises the burning pain is still present.

Before my onset with hyperacusis my tinnitus spiked after listening to loud music (about 90 dB), motorcycle passing nearby with full speed, drill and other loud things but after 5-6 days everything was back to normal. I guess my LDL was somewhere around 90 dB, maybe 95. Now who knows how much it is, after the shooting I'm having hard time coping with it ...

I can't find the cause of my burning pain, maybe it's delayed after some noise but I can't figure out ... I'm only 3 months into severe hyperacusis and I don't have some experience ...

 

[New Guy]

@Marko Nakovski

It's interesting you mention a drill. I used one about a month ago for about 10 minutes with ear plugs and muffs on and a day later the h and fullness was back. It cleared up in 2-3 weeks but I didn't think that would happen.

 

[Maureen777]

I understand everybody's pain on this thread. I would just like to vent about my hyperacusis. I've had it for about a year. (along with my tinnitus) Almost every single loud noise bothers me and hurts my ears. I have to wear foam earplugs and/or headphones (without any music) when I go out, almost all the time. I just can't survive without them, unless the noise level is no more than 50 db. I feel like such an oddball, I wish I could be like everybody else. I'm so jealous of people that can just sit in a noisy restaurant, for instance, and not have to wear any ear protection. Woe is me.

 

[Adriel93]

I feel you @Maureen777. I get jealous of people too. I always think about how rare H is, yet I have it. Like, why us? Smh

 

[Alue]

About 8% of the population has hyperacusis? I highly doubt that.

 

[Marko Nakovski]

@New Guy Drills are terrible for both tinnitus and hyperacusis. They were disturbing for my ears even when I had very mild hyperacusis. I can't even imagine being close to those things for a second. They are very loud and have high frequency at the same time. Usually earplugs can't block high frequency sounds so that kind of sound reaches your ear through protection and in result can make your hyperacusis and tinnitus worse.

 

[New Guy]

@Marko Nakovski

I definitely notice the difference with high frequency noises. I thought plugs and muffs would be enough but I was wrong. I hope in time things improve for you and me both.

 

[Contrast]

when one isn't even being exposed to some noises the burning pain is still present.

This could indicate that hyperacusis is like phantom pain for lost audiotory nerve fibers


So sorry you experience chronic ear pain.

 

[Marko Nakovski]

@Contrast And how are you going, did you improve your hyperacusis further?

 

[Contrast]

, but it's impossible to do double blinded placebo controlled trials on TRT.

Why is it impossible?

 

[TheDanishGirl]

@New Guy Drills are terrible for both tinnitus and hyperacusis. They were disturbing for my ears even when I had very mild hyperacusis. I can't even imagine being close to those things for a second. They are very loud and have high frequency at the same time. Usually earplugs can't block high frequency sounds so that kind of sound reaches your ear through protection and in result can make your hyperacusis and tinnitus worse.

The drills at your dentist must be much louder then the one's at my dentist. I had drilling done about 1 year ago, when I had moderate H (which I still have) and there was no problem with the sound of the drill. The sound was really mild and my ears didnt react at all.

 

[Contrast]

Keep calling it H and give no description whatsoever.

TRT 4 life

 

[Lilah]

I've had mild hyperacusis for a few weeks and now I'm starting to feel dull pain in my right ear. Typing on the keyboard also spikes the tinnitus. I have rumbling muscle spasms in my ear basically all day long. I'm being watchful of loud music. Is there anything I should do immediately to prevent worsening? I have no option but to take the train everyday, that's probably the loudest part of my day.

 

[Lane]

I have rumbling muscle spasms in my ear basically all day long.

@Lilah -- Here'a a little food for thought; snippet below is from THIS SITE: -- I massage my ear areas every day to try to keep muscle spasming down. I'm also learning to do self-acupuncture to go even deeper into some of those problem muscles.
............................................................

Vibration
Sonicare toothbrush
In Health & Healing newsletter 4/2005, a reader wrote he got tinnitus relief by slipping an big replacement pencil eraser over the head of his Sonicare toothbrush for tinnitus treatment. Each morning, he used it around his ear (NOT in his ear) until he could feel the vibration inside his ear. He said this tinnitus remedy made the problem pretty much go away. He uses it every four or five days to keep tinnitus at bay.

Julian Whitaker, M.D., who writes the newsletter liked this idea so much he's started to use this alternative tinnitus treatment at his clinic. He says it works by relaxing a muscle in tendon in the ear that distorts how we perceive sound.

Personal note: Some time after I put up this page, I developed a thumping sound in my right ear. I read somewhere that it's not tinnitus if the sound goes away when you put your fingers in your ears, and it did go away when I did that, so maybe it wasn't tinnitus.

After I had it for three days, however, it was driving me crazy, and I was having trouble sleeping, so I tried the Sonicare method, but I didn't have an eraser, so I just used the smooth side, opposite the bristles. I did a single two-minute cycle, and it worked. About 24 hours later, it started coming back, so I did it again. It didn't work; in fact, it got a little worse. So I did another cycle, and it went away and hasn't come back at all. Update: It's been years now, and it hasn't come back.

NOTE: Some people say Sonicare is the CAUSE of their tinnitus.

 

[Juan]

I've had mild hyperacusis for a few weeks and now I'm starting to feel dull pain in my right ear. Typing on the keyboard also spikes the tinnitus. I have rumbling muscle spasms in my ear basically all day long. I'm being watchful of loud music. Is there anything I should do immediately to prevent worsening? I have no option but to take the train everyday, that's probably the loudest part of my day.

Use earplugs or earmuffs when riding the train. Also train honks are super loud, be careful with that. Use hearing protection if you are around loud sounds.