Strange Hearing Distortion/Dysacusis?

[Gordon Steinberg]

I have the exact same thing. I have no idea what's happening. My ears hurt, ringing louder, I don't think I can ever live a happy life and I'm only 16.

How long has it been for you and what was the catalyst? Given that you are so young your body has a better shot than most people here of repairing itself.

 

[GBB]

I've had this for two years. It progressively got a bit better (or I learned not to pay as much attention to it). Very recently it's come back a bit more. It might just be that I'm paying more attention to it. I can't tell. I recently had a couple of plane flights but I'm not sure what those flights would have done.

I've never seen/heard any real explanation for it either on the internet or from doctors. I do remember one thread on here where someone basically cured themselves of it with pink noise, so it might be hyperacusis related.

Can you link the story? Am very curious about this.

 

[weab00]

This never goes away in 90% of cases is what I've gathered from all these threads.

 

[Ava Lugo]

This never goes away in 90% of cases is what I've gathered from all these threads.

Really? Where did you get that from? Whose didn't go away?

 

[weab00]

Really? Where did you get that from? Whose didn't go away?

This is just what I've gathered from this forum. I've had hearing distortions with hyperacusis for 2 months strong now, showing no signs of clearing up. I have found very few people that actually have the distortions go away for good. Depresses the shit outta me, can't enjoy music anymore.

 

[Ava Lugo]

This is just what I've gathered from this forum. I've had hearing distortions with hyperacusis for 2 months strong now, showing no signs of clearing up. I have found very few people that actually have the distortions go away for good. Depresses the shit outta me, can't enjoy music anymore.

I hear ya. I can't enjoy music either. I'd rather get cancer or something. I'm jealous of my coworkers who just have back problems or foot pain.

 

[mylesm]

This is just what I've gathered from this forum. I've had hearing distortions with hyperacusis for 2 months strong now, showing no signs of clearing up. I have found very few people that actually have the distortions go away for good. Depresses the shit outta me, can't enjoy music anymore.

From what I have seen 90% of people just disappear from this forum. If we are staying positive, this means that they have moved on with their life.

There are definitely a few people on here that have claimed they go away.

I have had the distortions for just under a year. The severity has fluctuated the whole time but the main thing that has worked for me is just ignoring them. They were almost gone a month ago and now they are back alongside my anxiety. The two seem to be correlated.

Myriam Westcott told me that she believes it to be TTTS, which her own clinical studies have suggested is an anxiety based condition that runs alongside hyperacusis in many cases.

For me personally this information fits like a glove because when I first got tinnitus I was very vigilant and obsessive.

Mine haven't gone away but they improved quite a lot to the point where they are just a mild annoyance as is the case with many people on here if you dig a little deeper.

 

[StayCalm]

For me personally this information fits like a glove because when I first got tinnitus I was very vigilant and obsessive.

This is really interesting to me, because the symptoms that have me the most bent out of shape (sound distortions and overall sound quality) are the ones I'm most obsessively monitoring, are also those that subjectively feel like they are getting worse. The symptoms that I don't care about as much and so aren't keeping close track of (background tinnitus, noise hyperacusis and just coping with moderate hearing loss in one ear) are the ones that seem to be getting better.

 

[Ava Lugo]

From what I have seen 90% of people just disappear from this forum. If we are staying positive, this means that they have moved on with their life.

There are definitely a few people on here that have claimed they go away.

I have had the distortions for just under a year. The severity has fluctuated the whole time but the main thing that has worked for me is just ignoring them. They were almost gone a month ago and now they are back alongside my anxiety. The two seem to be correlated.

Myriam Westcott told me that she believes it to be TTTS, which her own clinical studies have suggested is an anxiety based condition that runs alongside hyperacusis in many cases.

For me personally this information fits like a glove because when I first got tinnitus I was very vigilant and obsessive.

Mine haven't gone away but they improved quite a lot to the point where they are just a mild annoyance as is the case with many people on here if you dig a little deeper.

I wonder why my distortions are still bad with a lot of music and tv after almost a year... what am I doing wrong?

 

[weab00]

From what I have seen 90% of people just disappear from this forum. If we are staying positive, this means that they have moved on with their life.

There are defiantly a few people on here that have claimed they go away.

I have had the distortions for just under a year. The severity has fluctuated the whole time but the main thing that has worked for me is just ignoring them. They were almost gone a month ago and now they are back alongside my anxiety. The two seem to be correlated.

Myriam Westcott told me that she believes it to be TTTS, which her own clinical studies have suggested is an anxiety based condition that runs alongside hyperacusis in many cases.

For me personally this information fits like a glove because when I first got tinnitus I was very vigilant and obsessive.

Mine haven't gone away but they improved quite a lot to the point where they are just a mild annoyance as is the case with many people on here if you dig a little deeper.

I think I might have TTTS. When I close the door or put a plate on the table, my ear feels a little pressure for a second. Same thing if I tap my fingers a bunch of times in a row the pressure isn't there initially but it builds with each sound. Does this sound like TTTS and does it go away?

 

[kamil1364]

I have the exact same thing. I have no idea what's happening. My ears hurt, ringing louder, I don't think I can ever live a happy life and I'm only 16.

I'm 18 and all I want to do is to die because of it.

 

[Matchbox]

I hear all of you, the morse code makes it so I can barely work, if at all... and it's in every piece of white noise or sound.

 

[PaulBe]

I hear ya. I can't enjoy music either. I'd rather get cancer or something.

I did. ototoxic chemotherapy improved my sound tolerance while making my tinnitus louder.

 

[Liam92]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I have exactly this!

It's so hard to explain but it seems that a lot of people eventually just get used to it or it goes, either or you notice it less. I

have had tinnitus for almost 6 years but this distortion/morse code thing just came on last week, however I feel I was really stressed at the time too...

I also got TTTS like symptoms since February, a *thumping* sound like someone tapping a microphone inside my ear.

But this distortion/dysacusis really set me back this past week, I get it in the car, listening to TV, microwave, radio, I also feel like I'm hypersensitive to high frequency sounds? It's so strange.

How is everyone coping?

 

[nay]

I have something like this too but it was strangely accompanied by something like a reduction in my regular tinnitus. I mostly hear an extra tinnitus tone when standing directly under my bathroom fan and maybe once or twice with running water. Beach white noise sounds make me hear a siren though.

Perhaps I have a little bit of noise trauma from a fire engine going by me the other day in the few seconds before I could react and plug my ears. Another possible cause is excessive white noise. I use Google Home's rain sounds to help relieve my tinnitus before going to sleep and reading at night and lately I've been using a fan too. Also I have been quite stressed lately. I am going to try to use music or at least varied rain tracks to go to sleep so I'm not training myself to listen to that one Google rain track.

It's very mild but it'a also making me paranoid wondering if certain sounds I'm hearing are actually real. One time it was a recording artifact in a podcast as far as I could tell, and some random artifacts in a song. And I'm pretty sure most of the random beeping and siren sounds are real.

I did try walking down the street without headphones the other day it seemed WAY too loud so maybe this is developing H? My Apple Watch did indicate that spikes were above 85 db though so maybe it's just too loud over here.

 

[nay]

I also did a audiogram of my bathroom fan and there is a tiny spike at the high frequencies so maybe I'm just very sensitive to that? My hearing test shows almost no hearing loss at high frequencies while I do have a little (but "normal") hearing loss at medium frequency.

Then I tried isolating that sound and listening to it and it set off my left eardrum! So maybe it is related to TTTS in some way.

Hope you all are doing well! Anyone doing better?

 

[Brian Newman]

Ehhh these hearing distortions with hyperacusis are terrible! Normal tinnitus cannot even compare to this. Anybody find relief from their distortions?

 

[Matchbox]

nybody find relief from their distortions?

Only in some niche circumstances.

Almost fainting. Or getting my blood pressure up. Drinking a couple of beers and playing guitar outside on "mild tinnitus days".

And it's always worse if I do that afterwards so, I don't know.

The rough part is when it reacts to people's voices. After my Acoustic Reflex Test, when people spoke, I heard a 226 Hz tone (from the test) over their voices. Only when they spoke.

Like Jesus Christ. Thankfully that has cleared up after a few days but good god I wanted to shoot myself right there telling the ENT "I can't concentrate on what you're saying, I hear a beep everytime you speak."

If I play that Hz tone again, it comes out from hiding in the environment, so I avoid it like the plague.

 

[Brian Newman]

Only in some niche circumstances.

Almost fainting. Or getting my blood pressure up. Drinking a couple of beers and playing guitar outside on "mild tinnitus days".

And it's always worse if I do that afterwards so, I don't know.

The rough part is when it reacts to people's voices. After my Acoustic Reflex Test, when people spoke, I heard a 226 Hz tone (from the test) over their voices. Only when they spoke.

Like Jesus Christ. Thankfully that has cleared up after a few days but good god I wanted to shoot myself right there telling the ENT "I can't concentrate on what you're saying, I hear a beep everytime you speak."

If I play that Hz tone again, it comes out from hiding in the environment, so I avoid it like the plague.

Bro I know, I was doing so much better, for a whole month I slept in silence and heard nothing! No ringing, no buzzing, no whistling, no distortions, nothing, man I'm going to be honest, it was a gift from god. I got cocky and started going to the gym again and now the distortions are back and worse than ever.

The ringing, beeping and fluttering are so loud I can't sleep. And the hyperacusis is so bad I can't tolerate my own voice anymore. Wtf man! I just don't learn lmao. Every month that goes by I get more distortions. It just started from water and fans, now it's from me talking, walking, breathing, pissing , everything. I made an appointment at Silverstein Institute because I live a few hours from Sarasota. I still have to figure out if I have a fistula or CSF leak. I went to more ENTs and they just said nah go home live with it. What assholes.

 

[Exit]

Bro I know, I was doing so much better, for a whole month I slept in silence and heard nothing! No ringing, no buzzing, no whistling, no distortions, nothing, man I'm going to be honest, it was a gift from god. I got cocky and started going to the gym again and now the distortions are back and worse than ever.

The ringing, beeping and fluttering are so loud I can't sleep. And the hyperacusis is so bad I can't tolerate my own voice anymore. Wtf man! I just don't learn lmao. Every month that goes by I get more distortions. It just started from water and fans, now it's from me talking, walking, breathing, pissing , everything. I made an appointment at Silverstein Institute because I live a few hours from Sarasota. I still have to figure out if I have a fistula or CSF leak. I went to more ENTs and they just said nah go home live with it. What assholes.

Yeah you shouldn't think for a second that you can exercise or live at all... I did the same mistake except I went outside...

I've got the same symptoms. Very annoying. Sometimes when the tinnitus is louder I'm less bothered by the distortion/reactivity.

I haven't decided yet what I prefer...

 

[Brian Newman]

Yeah you shouldn't think for a second that you can exercise or live at all... I did the same mistake except I went outside...

I've got the same symptoms. Very annoying. Sometimes when the tinnitus is louder I'm less bothered by the distortion/reactivity.

I haven't decided yet what I prefer...

I have to find a way to workout, if I don't, the depression just takes me man. I bought a bunch of stuff for the house, hopefully the straining does not make it worse. But yeah it just keeps getting worse and worse.

 

[Exit]

I have to find a way to workout, if I don't, the depression just takes me man. I bought a bunch of stuff for the house, hopefully the straining does not make it worse. But yeah it just keeps getting worse and worse.

I agree, I'm gonna try some training home too soon, can't get much worse anyhow.

But I'm dead alive everyday so I feel like a fat lazy old man.

Home training doesn't work very well for me, unless you have a cold garage or something.

 

[Matchbox]

I have to find a way to workout, if I don't, the depression just takes me man. I bought a bunch of stuff for the house, hopefully the straining does not make it worse. But yeah it just keeps getting worse and worse.

Honestly I haven't worked out in weeks and I haven't magically found things getting better. Alcohol helps and then makes it worse once sober for days and days and gives me what could amount to "seizures" in my vision or audio when about to sleep... every time.

The tinnitus I hear (twang sound) only when I yawn seems to be getting louder (and at one point was quieter, and I was doing better with distortions). I think it is intimately connected to what's going on, as this whole mess got worse once it began half a year ago.

I think there's something mechanical or a leak from hyperbaric, but the yawn is the same sound bilaterally. That's quite the coincidence, unless that's the sound something makes that's a central focus, like a membrane or bone conduction issue from pressure in the "weakest link", whether a joint ligament membrane; either that or it's in my head, but when yawning what else happens? My ear drums flutter (or tense) like everyone else, my tubes sometimes open sometimes not... It was never an issue before.

And finally it is ALWAYS only happening when I'm in bed or getting up in the morning. Seems pressure related to me. In both ears? like how?

The only thing I can think of is CSF. But that makes no sense as lying down increases CSF pressure.

I finally have a decent otoscope, so at some point I'll have to record what happens to my eardrum when I yawn. Maybe I'll see something dramatic. All I know is my tubes aren't always open, but I don't think I have ETD... I can pop my ears pretty easily.
It could also be a brain tumour.

 

[Brian Newman]

Honestly I haven't worked out in weeks and I haven't magically found things getting better. Alcohol helps and then makes it worse once sober for days and days and gives me what could amount to "seizures" in my vision or audio when about to sleep... every time.

The tinnitus I hear (twang sound) only when I yawn seems to be getting louder (and at one point was quieter, and I was doing better with distortions). I think it is intimately connected to what's going on, as this whole mess got worse once it began half a year ago.

I think there's something mechanical or a leak from hyperbaric, but the yawn is the same sound bilaterally. That's quite the coincidence, unless that's the sound something makes that's a central focus, like a membrane or bone conduction issue from pressure in the "weakest link", whether a joint ligament membrane; either that or it's in my head, but when yawning what else happens? My ear drums flutter (or tense) like everyone else, my tubes sometimes open sometimes not... It was never an issue before.

And finally it is ALWAYS only happening when I'm in bed or getting up in the morning. Seems pressure related to me. In both ears? like how?

The only thing I can think of is CSF. But that makes no sense as lying down increases CSF pressure.

I finally have a decent otoscope, so at some point I'll have to record what happens to my eardrum when I yawn. Maybe I'll see something dramatic. All I know is my tubes aren't always open, but I don't think I have ETD... I can pop my ears pretty easily.
It could also be a brain tumour.

Hmmmm was there an incident causing everything or did it just start over time? And yeah, when I wake up my head is stuffy along with my nose.

Does anything happen when you workout?

 

[Brian Newman]

I agree, I'm gonna try some training home too soon, can't get much worse anyhow.

But I'm dead alive everyday so I feel like a fat lazy old man.

Home training doesn't work very well for me, unless you have a cold garage or something.

Same man. Today is the day I can't even tolerate voices at all. My hyperacusis is 10/10 bad now. The distortions piss me off but are not debilitating like this. My Rogue Fitness stuff comes tomorrow thank god.

 

[Exit]

Same man. Today is the day I can't even tolerate voices at all. My hyperacusis is 10/10 bad now. The distortions piss me off but are not debilitating like this. My Rogue Fitness stuff comes tomorrow thank god.

I guess I could figure it out, but I'll just ask. When did you get hyperacusis?
Did it improve and then get worse after a loud incident, or after overprotecting?

I guess you didn't get hyperacusis from the gym...

Do you have a garage or a nice room for training?

Well, goodnight.

Been a traumatic day.
Idiot neighbour drilling after curfew.
I'm raging mad... but still too dead for doing even a bicep curl before shower.

 

[Matchbox]

Same man. Today is the day I can't even tolerate voices at all. My hyperacusis is 10/10 bad now. The distortions piss me off but are not debilitating like this. My Rogue Fitness stuff comes tomorrow thank god.

Distortion in your own voice, like a scratchy sound? I get that. It was terrifying. Now it's just highly annoying. It definitely comes and goes. It's still the mornings when the low distortions that are suicidal to endure.

What brought mine on? Honestly what felt like a seizure. It happened once after working out to music that was loud but not painful ,75 dB through speakers. Then again from Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy done probably 4 days after the first distortions. That's when things went from bad to suicidal. I would've killed myself that night had benzos not worked.

The music was in an environment where there was a lot of reflection and enclosed so I think that channeled more high frequency into my ears that would've been normally dissipated or absorbed. A lot of gyms are like this... concrete and metal walls. High frequency sound keeps a lot of its punch. My tinnitus spiked but not more than usual from exercise and calmed down an hour later. No big deal. The rest of the evening was uneventful.

What happened that night was I woke up to wind chimes all over my head space. And fireflies of specs of light flying throughout my entire vision. Like a storm.

That makes me think this is all seizure related. My neurologist said no. I've got no med degree but I think the proof fits that there's seizures occuring and brain damage to my auditory areas.

 

[Brian Newman]

I guess I could figure it out, but I'll just ask. When did you get hyperacusis?
Did it improve and then get worse after a loud incident, or after overprotecting?

I guess you didn't get hyperacusis from the gym...

Do you have a garage or a nice room for training?

Well, goodnight.

Been a traumatic day.
Idiot neighbour drilling after curfew.
I'm raging mad... but still too dead for doing even a bicep curl before shower.

Hey Exit,

I had mild tinnitus and hyperacusis for many years from shooting guns. My tinnitus went away after 18 months, and the hyperacusis was mild and got better too. I still could never shoot a gun again or go to any concerts but whenever I went to a noisy place I would put musician earplugs in and be fine. I was big into powerlifting last year, after deadlifting 495 lbs I got home and noticed everything I heard had a flutter distortion to it. My ears got way more sensitive than usual. I got my hearing tested by 6 audiologists and have perfect hearing.

I thought it was a perilymphatic fistula or a CSF leak but I do not have any vertigo problems. I also got a beeping in my right ear. I tried Prednisone, then the beeping spread to my other ear. Then with amazing luck I got into a car accident. Airbags destroyed my ears to the point where I can't work anymore. I am completely debilitated. The tinnitus is bad but it does not bother me too much. The distortions are worse and get worse whenever I bend over or strain or sneeze or cough.

I didn't mention, I was wearing earplugs on that deadlift. It could have something to do with intercranial pressure. Working out depending on the weight and the exercise would set the condition off causing hyperacusis to temporarily get worse with the distortions. If I wore earplugs it was easier to set my ears off at the gym. 6 months later I still have not found out what I did deadlifting. I have been going to the chiropractor thinking my neck could be making things worse. I have moderate subluxation in my C1 and C2. I have not seen a whole lot of progress until 07/08 the distortions got much worse after my adjustment.

Every time I am exposed to loud noise, my hyperacusis gets worse and worse. It slowly gets better over months if I am not exposed to any uncomfortable noise. Now I have been careless and have been exposed to way too much noise over the past month. I wouldn't call them acoustic traumas because it's like a loud car driving by, or thunder near me, or somebody slamming something at the gym.

But now the distortions are crazy, the hyperacusis is so bad I can only talk for about a minute, and I cannot tolerate anything at all. A light switch hurts my ears.

 

[Brian Newman]

Distortion in your own voice, like a scratchy sound? I get that. It was terrifying. Now it's just highly annoying. It definitely comes and goes. It's still the mornings when the low distortions that are suicidal to endure.

What brought mine on? Honestly what felt like a seizure. It happened once after working out to music that was loud but not painful ,75 dB through speakers. Then again from Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy done probably 4 days after the first distortions. That's when things went from bad to suicidal. I would've killed myself that night had benzos not worked.

The music was in an environment where there was a lot of reflection and enclosed so I think that channeled more high frequency into my ears that would've been normally dissipated or absorbed. A lot of gyms are like this... concrete and metal walls. High frequency sound keeps a lot of its punch. My tinnitus spiked but not more than usual from exercise and calmed down an hour later. No big deal. The rest of the evening was uneventful.

What happened that night was I woke up to wind chimes all over my head space. And fireflies of specs of light flying throughout my entire vision. Like a storm.

That makes me think this is all seizure related. My neurologist said no. I've got no med degree but I think the proof fits that there's seizures occuring and brain damage to my auditory areas.

Bro I really think our problems are closely related. I truly do, I just don't have any visual problems. I can't even imagine having that too. I mean I can't tell for sure now if my problems were for sure from deadlifting heavy or just because I kept slamming weights and going to loud bars all of 2020.

I got the distortions in December. In November, after a heavy session, I can't remember if I had earplugs in or not, the distortions stayed with me for one night and then went away. I forgot all about it, I should have paid more attention that it was a sign to back off.

When I go to Silverstein Institute, I'm going to pick his brain and see what he thinks.

Did you have any leads at all from any ENTs? So you think yours is from the loud music for sure?

 

[Matchbox]

Did you have any leads at all from any ENTs? So you think yours is from the loud music for sure?

It started from loud music.

But to be honest the connection to steroids is the strongest part by far, any time I tapered off them too quickly it unleashed hell that never improved. I tapered off once, insanely, slowly, and this did not occur.

The connection between my vision and the sound effects also makes me think... seizure. So... brain lesions.

But then it changes based on yawning and exercise...

I don't know enough about anatomy of the face to know if yawning presses on the auditory nerve or not... or if it's due to pressure swings in the ear.

If it's barotrauma, then it's conveniently in both ears. Given my myriad of symptoms and what I heard/saw, it's hard for me to believe that is the basis for my worsening.

The ENTs are clueless, and audiologists look at me when I describe things like I'm on crack.

I'm hopefully getting a neurology consult with someone who knows at least a bit more about it.

Even though sound makes me worse, an MRI seems pretty important at this stage.

The difference with you and I is, when I exercised even with earplugs the increase and changes have all been temporary.

Furthermore the time it DID make me have my night of terror, I had listened to loud music (not acoustic trauma loud).

Anytime I've taken a depressant, like benzos... when I come off I always have "some kind" of similar story... crazy vision flashes in tandem with new sound effects going off whilst about to fall asleep. That's been at least semi consistent.

Without knowing more anatomy I can't really put my finger on what's up... the yawning thing could be a red herring.