Tinnitus After Music Festival

[Mark62]

@Simon85, thank you for your supportive reply. I have to admit, it's getting frustrating and making me somewhat despondent. I'm so hopeful that the volume of the tinnitus will decrease to a tolerable level. All I can think to do is to give it time, be patient, and to protect my hearing.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Sointu]

I saw ENT number 3 because I have started to experience ear pain with my hyperacusis. The more I try to do stuff in my everyday life such as watch TV etc, the more irritated my (especially left) ear feels like.

Here are the ENT's opinions if I understood them correctly: I should continue living my life as normally as I can, and slowly get used to noises again. Gently though. Not just stay in silence. No need to be afraid of normal everyday noises. And because my audiogram was almost normal a week after the festival it means I don't have noise injury because if I had, it would be seen in other frequencies too or something. And the type of noise exposure I experienced during the festival could not have caused noise injury/hearing loss.

I struggle with cluster of symptoms that started immediately after the loud noise exposure and I did not have those before the festival. I feel like because my audiogram was almost normal those symptoms are easily seen as psychological when they last long.

I got some kind of feeling this ENT thought my pain symptoms as psychological that has a lot to do with fear. Something that started after some kind of fear response that tinnitus/loud sound triggered. Maybe there could be some psychological element too but this is not just some psychological stuff. I for example experienced physical pain during the gig in my ear.

I got suggestion to go to expensive therapy.

We had a conversation about hidden hearing loss, sound distortions and my sensitivity to bass and low frequencies but it didn't last long. The ENT thought I probably don't have hearing loss caused by the festival.

I feel like I did not get a lot of practical advice how to go forward from this situation where even normal everyday sounds trigger pain and I am in a cycle of pain. I am afraid that if I just keep pushing my ears get even more irritated.

 

[Juan]

I did like the ENT suggested, continue living my life normally and get used to sounds again, not use earplugs all the time which he thought is not a great idea with hyperacusis.

That's just wrong advice, which means your ENT is not familiar with hyperacusis.

If you have bad hyperacusis a door closing, a chair being dragged, cutlery, etc will trigger reactions.

At the beginning your body will be in fight or flight mode and really really sensitive to noise. This takes a long long time to cure if your hyperacusis is bad, and I mean years.

In order to feel better and have some solid ground on which you can found an eventual improvement, you need stable hearing, diminished reactivity, and for that you need silence for a few weeks, or music / noise in a controlled environment (home) and always earplugs outside home. Even with earplugs stay far from any excessive noise (power tools, car horns, loud motorbikes etc etc etc).

 

[Simon85]

feel like because my audiogram was almost normal those symptoms are easily seen as psychological when they last long.

Standard audiograms are very blunt instruments. It's not all in your head. You need to listen to your body, give it time and protect your ears. Ears take ages to settle, so symptoms in many cases will last for an extended period.

I am afraid that if I just keep pushing my ears get even more irritated.

Even the professionals don't give the best advice. Listen to your body and avoid sounds that are painful or overly uncomfortable. The pain goes away for most people. I had terrible stabbing pain hyperacusis for 6 months. Avoid obviously loud noises, don't go to clubs or gigs and don't use ear buds or headphones. It's not all in your head and for the majority of people will eventually pass. Some people do develop an extreme fear of noise - that's a road you don't want to go down, but from your posts it's not the vibe I'm getting. Invest in some musicians earplugs if you haven't already and carry them with you in case you need them. At the moment I haven't had to wear ear protection much at all. However, I did pop them in while taking the car to the mechanic (they were banging things together) or other loud environments where it might be necessary.

If you feel comfortable exposing your ears to noise then do so by playing light pink noise or music to stimulate the ears. This way you have control over the volume. Don't go into clearly unpredictable environments if you can help it. You're still very early in this experience and are likely around the peak of symptoms. It can get better. Time and looking after yourself is your best bet.

 

[Sointu]

Week 9:

I feel so scared at the moment. Last night I had some weird radiating pain in my face and jaw and under the ear and inside the ear. Also headache. In the left part of my head. It was intense.

This makes me think of trigeminal nerve.

My tinnitus was really intense in the evening too, there was this new frequency beeeeeeeeeep, also the painful hyperacusis was worse. Even the slightest background sound triggered stinging or stabbing sensations in my ear during the night and I woke up to pain. During the morning the pain hyperacusis symptom was a bit easier but still around. I hear this really high pitch whistling sound in my ear and physically almost feel the sensation that is most bizarre. Like something is moving/crawling inside of my ear.

I had difficulties to sleep because if I slept on the side that I had pain I experienced worse pain in my face and on the other hand, if I slept on the other side, I felt like my left ear was irritated because of the external sounds and I felt the stabbing sensations. I put an earplug in my left ear during the night and somehow managed to sleep even though I was hearing tinnitus more clearly.

My tinnitus is easier to deal with during the morning but I am also feeling like I have muffled hearing and my ears feel numb. Like my hearing is getting worse and I am scared because of it too.

My left ear seems to be irritated because of many sounds. Especially low frequencies causes weird painful sensations in my ear such as traffic or running tap sound. I still have fullness sensation in my ear too. Last evening I understood how distorted and flat everything sounds in my left ear when I kept finger on top of my right ear compared to right ear. It feels like my right ear is more normal than my left ear even though it is not symptom free.

This is really heavy price to pay because of one festival. I did not have these type of symptoms before. I remember the day before the festival. I am so sad when I think about it and how normal my life was compared to this. I listened to music in car, no tinnitus, no hyperacusis, my hearing was normal. Music sounded normal and enjoyable, both ears felt normal. Beautiful summer day, no worries. And now I have this and I have no idea even what is going on. I feel like crying.

I don't know if should I see a doctor but on the other hand what help would I get. I have seen already several. Of course feeling like my hearing is getting worse bothers me.

 

[Exit]

Week 9:

I feel so scared at the moment. Last night I had some weird radiating pain in my face and jaw and under the ear and inside the ear. Also headache. In the left part of my head. It was intense.

This makes me think of trigeminal nerve.

My tinnitus was really intense in the evening too, there was this new frequency beeeeeeeeeep, also the painful hyperacusis was worse. Even the slightest background sound triggered stinging or stabbing sensations in my ear during the night and I woke up to pain. During the morning the pain hyperacusis symptom was a bit easier but still around. I hear this really high pitch whistling sound in my ear and physically almost feel the sensation that is most bizarre. Like something is moving/crawling inside of my ear.

I had difficulties to sleep because if I slept on the side that I had pain I experienced worse pain in my face and on the other hand, if I slept on the other side, I felt like my left ear was irritated because of the external sounds and I felt the stabbing sensations. I put an earplug in my left ear during the night and somehow managed to sleep even though I was hearing tinnitus more clearly.

My tinnitus is easier to deal with during the morning but I am also feeling like I have muffled hearing and my ears feel numb. Like my hearing is getting worse and I am scared because of it too.

My left ear seems to be irritated because of many sounds. Especially low frequencies causes weird painful sensations in my ear such as traffic or running tap sound. I still have fullness sensation in my ear too. Last evening I understood how distorted and flat everything sounds in my left ear when I kept finger on top of my right ear compared to right ear. It feels like my right ear is more normal than my left ear even though it is not symptom free.

This is really heavy price to pay because of one festival. I did not have these type of symptoms before. I remember the day before the festival. I am so sad when I think about it and how normal my life was compared to this. I listened to music in car, no tinnitus, no hyperacusis, my hearing was normal. Music sounded normal and enjoyable, both ears felt normal. Beautiful summer day, no worries. And now I have this and I have no idea even what is going on. I feel like crying.

I don't know if should I see a doctor but on the other hand what help would I get. I have seen already several. Of course feeling like my hearing is getting worse bothers me.

1. Don't use your energy on doctors!

2. Protect your ears outside, if it hurts, it's too loud.

3. Find a place to go for walks. Have earmuffs in your hands all the time.

4. Progress is often not linear.

5. Stop being emotional. It's your first year. Use the energy to avoid setbacks. Think about scenarios in your everyday life that can really mess you up further.

 

[Sointu]

1. Don't use your energy on doctors!

2. Protect your ears outside, if it hurts, it's too loud.

3. Find a place to go for walks. Have earmuffs in your hands all the time.

4. Progress is often not linear.

5. Stop being emotional. It's your first year. Use the energy to avoid setbacks. Think about scenarios in your everyday life that can really mess you up further.

Thank you for your tips and support, I appreciate it.

I know those things probably would help me.

However, please don´t say to me "Stop being emotional, it is just my first year", when not obviously knowing my background. It is not my first year dealing with difficult symptoms. It is my first year of this but I have gone through hyperacusis in the past and a lot of benzo/med harm I don´t want to even share because it is so painful and it was disabling. Now because I was unfortunate and irresponsible for one evening, I managed to get myself this new level of harm that is also disabling. And my life was not completely normal to begin with when I got this, I still had limitations in my life. I had done years of hard work to heal myself.

For over five years I did not have a life. Just when I was starting to get my life back (I would not even consider myself fully healed), I got this.

I understand you try to help and mean well.

I need to do some emotional processing to be able to go on. Currently dealing with really dark thoughts and I have lost my fighter attitude I built during benzo withdrawal. I really tried to make an effort to improve my wellbeing and to avoid setbacks during benzo withdrawal, it was all I did. I haven´t got energy to do anything at the moment. I hope I find the same attitude back I had and go back to walking and such.

Sointu

 

[Exit]

Thank you for your tips and support, I appreciate it.

I know those things probably would help me.

However, please don´t say to me "Stop being emotional, it is just my first year", when not obviously knowing my background. It is not my first year dealing with difficult symptoms. It is my first year of this but I have gone through hyperacusis in the past and a lot of benzo/med harm I don´t want to even share because it is so painful and it was disabling. Now because I was unfortunate and irresponsible for one evening, I managed to get myself this new level of harm that is also disabling. And my life was not completely normal to begin with when I got this, I still had limitations in my life. I had done years of hard work to heal myself.

For over five years I did not have a life. Just when I was starting to get my life back (I would not even consider myself fully healed), I got this.

I understand you try to help and mean well.

I need to do some emotional processing to be able to go on. Currently dealing with really dark thoughts and I have lost my fighter attitude I built during benzo withdrawal. I really tried to make an effort to improve my wellbeing and to avoid setbacks during benzo withdrawal, it was all I did. I haven´t got energy to do anything at the moment. I hope I find the same attitude back I had and go back to walking and such.

Sointu

Sorry about what you have been through.

It was for the most part advice to help avoid mistakes and setbacks.

And I do know the feeling of despair and hopelessness and not wanting to even go out. Just be careful and think about everyday situations in your life.

An example is if you live in a complex: Have earmuffs next to your bed.

And keep a pair in your car in case you're stuck in traffic with sirens blaring around.

And public buildings often have central fire alarms.

Stuff like this...

 

[Sointu]

I saw a doctor who thinks I have inner ear damage (hair cell damage) and took my acoustic trauma more seriously. And wanted to send me to hearing tests again.

Many doctors I have met seem to put way too much value to these tests to say things are okay. The doctor I saw recognized my audiogram was taken 11 days after my acoustic trauma and my audiogram could have been different in the beginning after the acoustic trauma.

Maybe my acoustic trauma wasn't so mild that some doctors seemed to think in the beginning. My symptoms have not been mild because I am disabled at the moment because of them.

I still have difficulties to comprehend how a festival can trigger all these symptoms. I am still in shock how my life changed so suddenly.

I feel like the perception of sound has changed in my left ear and sounds feel distorted. One ENT talked about something like maybe my inner ear is swollen or something (fluid?) and because of it I can't hear bass and low frequency sounds normally. If I understood correctly. But who knows why I experience sound distortions.

I have had to stop studying, I am mostly at home at the moment in silence. My life has changed to a living nightmare and I have no idea will I have a normal life ever again. I am grieving of losing my life the way it was. In many ways I feel like my life is over. The enjoyable life. Even if these symptoms get easier (I have difficulties to believe it at the moment and I also have benzo tapering to do that makes things even more challenging), there is a constant risk something triggers them again because my ears probably were damaged. It is hard to think about it. An idea of constantly being careful with noises is really stressful in the loud world we are living in.

Every morning I feel traumatized after I wake up when I understand what has happened. This whole thing has traumatized me. I can't think a lot of things that are as distressing as these symptoms because these symptoms don't let me have even a second of peace, when I could distract myself 100 percent because the symptoms are so intense.

I go to therapy but that hasn't helped after these symptoms started.

 

[Mark62]

I saw a doctor who thinks I have inner ear damage (hair cell damage) and took my acoustic trauma more seriously. And wanted to send me to hearing tests again.

Sointu, I'm glad you have found a doctor who is looking into things more thoroughly. Having a good understanding of the problem might lead to a more successful recovery.

I am grieving of losing my life the way it was. In many ways I feel like my life is over. The enjoyable life.

I think a lot about this also. I know it's not healthy, and I know I need to get beyond it, but it's difficult - very difficult for me anyway right now. This affliction seems like such a disproportionate response for a single, unwitting poor decision regarding noise. I just hope the passage of time lowers the symptoms as well as making me more accepting.

Mark

 

[LukeYoung]

Reading this brings back some tough memories for me.

Sounds so similar to what happened with me.

Don't blame yourself, you didn't know. Also you could have had a cold and got tinnitus. It's random and relentless like that.

It will take a while but your brain will come out of fight or flight after a while. Keep using masking if it works! I did for quieter a while. Always had a fan on. Even if it wasn't on me.

I always slept with a fan anyway so no big change but it helped a lot.

 

[Sointu]

Hi @Mark62,

Yes I feel relieved I found a doctor who took things more seriously. I just want answers, some type of information why my symptoms are like this at the moment. I want to know what I deal with.

I also hope I could move on from grieving to acceptance but it is hard when symptoms feel too much to handle and things changed so quickly for worse. Things changed so rapidly for worse I have difficulties to comprehend what happened.

Above all I feel like I have lost some type of sense of safety. I am grieving it. Every morning I feel a bit more optimistic after I wake up to the point I understand noises cause pain and tinnitus is ringing and reminding me of what happened. I am not in acceptance phase yet and it is difficult to accept these type of symptoms. Life feels so unpredictable, unfair and cruel.

 

[Thomas_83]

Your story is just like mine. How are things going?

 

[Sointu]

Hi Thomas,

I am sorry you have experienced anything similar. This has been a really difficult experience to go through. I hope your recovery goes more smoothly than mine.

It is now 4.5 months of my acoustic trauma that triggered multiple symptoms.

There is some progress. Nothing dramatic but some improvement. I had constant ear pain and pressure at one point but nowadays I have less of it. Those symptoms can be easily triggered though and setbacks can happen if there is any louder noise. I haven't been able to live the life I used to live before this that is depressing. I have spent a lot of time in silence and quiet environments, and used earplugs outside and car. I still have hyperacusis that has stolen many things and pleasures from my life and my ears are particularly sensitive to certain frequencies.

My latest audiogram (below 8000 Hz) was better than the one a week after the noise trauma but I still feel like the sound is more dull and less sharp in my left ear. In the beginning after the trauma I felt like I had water or liquid in my ear and everything sounded dull or muffled. When I mentioned this to the ENT he said it could have been a sign of (temporary?) hearing loss. But I still feel like my hearing is not normal and ENT agreed that regular audiogram isn't the most reliable tool to prove there is not hearing loss.

Unfortunately my tinnitus is not better. Multiple tones... After sleeping well I can experience almost silence for some time but usually crickets and other tones return soon. It is almost ridiculous how much my tinnitus fluctuates (the tone and the volume). Some nights I sleep peacefully, other nights falling asleep and relaxation is a battle. Overall I sleep better than in the first weeks though. Brain slowly get used to tinnitus but I can't say I am habituated yet and it is challenging with tinnitus like this.

The ENT said that some of my symptoms been worse than the average noise induced symptoms in similar cases. I just hope things would change for better. For all of us.

I send you healing thoughts!

Sointu

 

[Sointu]

My acoustic trauma happened 7 months ago. The first few months were the worst. I have accepted the situation a bit better than in the beginning when I just concentrated on blaming myself of my mistake that triggered these symptoms. I feel like tinnitus is still a constant battle inside of my mind. It still has a big impact on mood and concentration. When my tinnitus began it was more like high pitched noise. At some point I started to also hear low-pitched jet fan noise that slowly has started to remind me of seashell sound. Hissing and roaring have got more loud and I still hear the same high pitched electric noise. Habituation is difficult because of multiple tones. Also my right ear has started to make sizzling and quiet ringing every now and then. Idea of tinnitus in my both ears scares me. I also have this symptom of ear crackling every now and then in my right ear.

But some symptoms have improved a lot:

- Hyperacusis and sharp pain. These have been by far the worst symptoms.

- Ear pressure sensation and the awful sensation like I have water inside of my ear. I don´t have these anymore!

- I hear bass and lower frequencies better. For a long time music sounded really weird and flat after acoustic trauma and now I believe it was because I did not hear bass and lower frequencies normally. One doctor suggested I could have fluid inside of my ear (hydrops) that could explain this symptom. Now music sounds more normal and I have lately even learned to enjoy music a bit even though some symptoms make enjoying a bit challenging.

- My own voice created an echo effect for some time in my left ear. This doesn't happen anymore.

- I don´t know if my sound distortions have improved or if I have just got used to them better. They don´t bother me as much anymore. Everything I hear in my left ear sounds a bit distorted because of the seashell sound and electric noise. When I listen to certain frequencies, the high pitched electric noise gets louder.

- I had weird fluctuating hearing for a long time, it was a really bizarre symptom. Like some days my hearing felt more sharp and some days it was muffled. I have less of this now luckily.

At my worst, I could not watch TV with sounds on, listen to music, leave my home without the hyperacusis spiking, or be in kitchen without earmuffs. I lived in silence listening to my tinnitus. Many everyday sounds felt really uncomfortable such as the sound of a computer fan. It was that bad. Now I can leave my home using earplugs. I only use ear protection at home when I do something extra noisy such as use vacuum cleaner. I can watch TV with sounds on etc. I find the sound of a computer fan soothing instead of uncomfortable that it was for a long time. I can mask my tinnitus, I could not do it for a long time because of hyperacusis. My quality of life and mood have improved in many ways when I can do some stuff again.

I can´t say I am fully healed from hyperacusis but sounds don´t trigger the same amount of pain anymore. I still have ear fatigue and sometimes occasionally mild pain in the evening after testing my limits too much but it usually resolves by the morning. I feel less and less of it. Especially some lower frequencies still feel a bit uncomfortable. I still try to be extra careful because seriously I don´t want worse hyperacusis back.

In the near future I am planning to try in-ear maskers for my tinnitus that I have been recommended. I hope that I could get my ability to concentrate back. I have worries about the in-ear maskers because I used to have such bad hyperacusis and I am afraid that I somehow will irritate my ears and the hyperacusis when trying these. At the same time I feel like some sounds are soothing for my ears and help me so maybe the maskers could help?

 

[Sointu]

I have tried to be strong and think positively but to be honest I must say I am still struggling a lot with these symptoms. Today is a bad day emotionally. I usually have crashed emotionally every now and then after these symptoms started.

I feel like I am a shell of a person I used to be after I got tinnitus and hyperacusis. I don't dream about things I used to dream about before acoustic trauma that damaged my ears. I am not as positive, I am more cynical and I just don't care about things as much I used to care about. I don't do stuff I used to love doing and I feel like my life is on the break. I have said countless times "no" when I have been asked to places to have fun. For me it always means I could get worse tinnitus or hyperacusis. Fun? What was it? Deep down inside of my mind I feel like my life is ruined. My life is almost non-stop stress, difficulties to concentrate, worrying and obsessing about my symptoms; hearing issues, tinnitus and hyperacusis. I get some breaks when I go to places where I don't hear my tinnitus as much and there is a lot of distraction. Playing computer games works too. But the dysphoria this situation creates is around almost anywhere I go whatever I do. I have to listen masking sounds even when I watch TV because tinnitus is so intrusive. My tinnitus wasn't as bad in the beginning.

I have tried therapy (professional who is a specialist in hearing issues), I have tried many things. These things have not helped a lot. In many ways I am sick and tired how therapy is always recommended as an option to fix this situation, fix my reaction to tinnitus. Like my reaction is the problem. I can't even describe how much willpower I have used to form even some positive thoughts during last few months.

I am really certain my situation and the symptoms would not have been as bad if I would not have gone through benzo tapering (and had a history of benzo harm) when I got acoustic trauma. I have heard from multiple people how they got short term day or two of tinnitus after loud noise exposure that went away. How lucky are they! I did not have tinnitus in the past. My tinnitus started during that one loud noise exposure and stayed. I believe benzo withdrawal played a big part on it why it stayed and increased my vulnerability to get this type of hyperacusis and tinnitus because sensitivity of sound and tinnitus are benzo withdrawal symptoms. Ears most likely don't like this type of "double injury" (noise exposure + withdrawal). I hope being able to finish benzo taper would create more stable situation for my ears to heal. Many people describe how their tinnitus gets quieter in the long term. I can't relate. There was some healing in the beginning before hyperacusis worsened and after it has been downward spiral with tinnitus.

Lately my symptoms have been worse. For some reason I don't understand my sound distortions have got worse. I don't know which part is reactive tinnitus, which part is sound distortion. My reactive tinnitus climbs on top of certain frequency sounds such as when I listen to sea sounds, rain sounds etc. I hear whistling or electric noise on top of certain sounds and it gets louder when I try to mask it. After I go to a bit louder places outside home where I can forget my tinnitus, my ears go loud EEEEEEE after. After I listen to masking sounds for a long time I have ear fatigue and a bit of fullness many times and the same EEEEE. I need really complicated multiple tone masking sounds to be able to mask my tinnitus that include high pitched and low pitched noises. My low pitched tinnitus changes from sharp jet fan noise to loud seashell type of sound creating this weird effect in my ear. When I hear the seashell tinnitus I feel like it makes every sound a bit distorted. Together with reactive high pitched electric noise it creates almost like metallic sound type of sound distortion. I have had again mild ear fullness in my left ear that was better for some time.

Because of this reactive tinnitus and sound distortions I have hard time believing an in-ear masker that emits white or pink noise would help me. At the same time I am waiting when I am able to try it and hoping it would bring some kind of relief.

When I had worse hyperacusis everything used to sound painfully sharp. Slowly the situation has changed and I feel like the situation has changed to opposite even though hyperacusis still exist. Sounds do not have the crisp anymore, they feel a bit flat and unsharp in my left ear. Muffled and a bit smaller they used to sound. Like my left ear is a bit numb to sound. It is difficult to describe. I can't stop obsessing how my hearing has changed and I do it constantly. It is difficult to just listen to music and understand how much poorer quality it sounds like and how much differences there are in the hearing of my left and right ear. Sometimes when the tinnitus is loudest I feel like I have difficulties to hear external noises and those moments I have been anxious thinking am I losing my hearing. How to just forget this when it bothers so much...

My audiogram/speech recognition tests have been fine and improved after acoustic trauma. My left ear hears 10 dB worse in some frequencies. I have been told I have good hearing. It does not feel like it. If this is good hearing I must have had excellent hearing before all of this. There must be some hidden hearing loss or something else that explains these hearing issues.

 

[Sointu]

10 months after my acoustic trauma:

I was making progress. I could listen to stereo in car (wearing earplugs), sleep well, go outside for a walk and to restaurants and to stores (wearing earplugs), listen to masking sounds, I was learning to concentrate with tinnitus and had made some progress, I could watch TV at normal volume and I could listen to music. I experienced a few spikes that went down in days. I was battling with tinnitus that caused concentration issues. I couldn´t do a lot of stuff I wanted to do which was frustrating and many times made me sad but I was still grateful of my progress. I could do a lot more things than during autumn. I did not experience ear pain usually. I only experienced ear fatigue or really mild ear pain if I pushed the limits of my hyperacusis too much but usually spikes went down in days. The spikes were nothing like what I now experience. I experienced some fluctuation. Sound distortions, ear fullness and tinnitus were fluctuating.

Then I tried in-ear maskers for a few days.

And now I am experiencing the most horrific spike during my whole time of tinnitus and hyperacusis. Last autumn I had months of horrible pain hyperacusis. I mostly did not experience pain anymore after that, but now I have pain again.

I started to experience painful burning sensations in my right ear that is the better ear. I get pins and needles feeling. Like sounds trigger pins and needles. When I try to watch TV, the burning gets worse. I have major difficulties to sleep because masking noise causes a burning sensation in my ear. What is worse, it is the better ear that is bothering me more. Everything was more tolerable when I only had issues in my left ear because I had the better ear that I could rely on. I am so scared at the moment that I get the same type of hyperacusis that I used to have that stole my life for months. If I lose all the things I have got back, I don´t know how to go on anymore. Worst part of this is how this has ruined my sleep.

I can´t understand how in-ear maskers can trigger this or was it even the maskers that did this. But what other thing would have caused this, I did not do any other thing differently. There were some issues during the tuning of the maskers. I experienced some sort of occlusion effect when I heard my own voice from the maskers and also a moment when I heard some kind of error sound, like crackling in the maskers when they were connected to a computer during tuning. I wonder could these have caused issues. The hearing aid worker noticed the error and did something and the weird uncomfortable crackling sound stopped. In my worried mind I am thinking could it have been possible I got some kind of mild acoustic shock/mild noise trauma from this. Probably not, hopefully not. I tried to use the in-ear maskers carefully only an hour during the day max. I felt like the white noise made my reactive tinnitus spike every time. The amplification of the in-ear maskers (hearing aids) could have caused issues. Amplification was increased so I could hear external sounds more normally because hearing aids can block sound a bit because they are like tiny earplugs. After I noticed the in-ear maskers were making my hyperacusis spike I stopped using them immediately.

I cannot even understand why on earth is my right ear symptomatic but my left ear is not as much. The right ear is my so called normal ear, I haven´t had as severe hyperacusis in this ear. Sometimes the right ear crackles (left does not) and rings occasionally during spikes but it hasn´t been as symptomatic as the left ear. It has felt normal most of the time, even after acoustic trauma. The hearing in my right ear has felt more crisp and clear and I haven´t experienced ear fullness in that ear.

I also wonder if benzo tapering has something to do with this. I have continued tapering after a long break. Benzos can trigger all sorts of stuff, but maybe not this... I don´t know. I just hope I get my previous baseline back.

 

[CC_16]

Do you want to go to an ENT and maybe ask for steroids?

That may help!

 

[Sointu]

It has been over a year since my ear symptoms started and here is an update:

For the last few months I have made a lot of progress with habituation to tinnitus and with my hyperacusis. Then I experienced a setback caused by in-ear-maskers that lasted for weeks and another that thankfully only lasted days. I dropped a large metal bowl to kitchen counter that triggered the symptoms again for days.

Then slowly the burning sensation was basically gone in my ears and I could do stuff that I could do before the setback. Using earplugs outside.

I tried to continue doing stuff normally despite of my hyperacusis spike. I started walking outside with headphones on top of earplugs at first. When I only experienced minor burning in my ears I started to listen to sound therapies quietly at night to mask my tinnitus that was bothering me a lot. My other ear started to ring after setback, I had this ear piercing reactive sizzling sound. Luckily it slowly got a bit less intrusive. I got my joy of music back that has been gone every now and then when my symptoms have been worse. At first after acoustic trauma I could not enjoy music for months.

What was most bizarre is how my tinnitus started to slowly bother me less and less. I was doing most progress I have been during the year. I mostly noticed my tinnitus at night. I started to live my life more. I got a puppy. Yeah, a puppy despite of my hyperacusis and it did not even make my symptoms spike. She is luckily quiet and does not bark almost at all. I started exercising, went even to quiet gym. Started eating really healthy. I tried to keep my mind distracted so I did not think about this as much. I felt myself happier when I did stuff even though I have had rough year that has left emotional scars that still have an effect on me every day.

I have continued my (slow) benzo taper for the last months too.

I started to dream that yeah maybe I can still have a life despite of my symptoms. Maybe I could do this and that...

I was invited to friend's graduation parties and I thought after my process that I could go there. For a year I haven't gone to any social events. I thought why not. I missed seeing my group of friends. Maybe I could just try to avoid loud sounds. I was fine with shopping mall decibels with earplugs so why could I not go to parties.

It was a mistake. It was more difficult to avoid sounds than I thought if I did not want to basically carry a table somewhere else and go sit far away from the people... It was a relaxed party for families but there was one loud Bluetooth speaker with bass. It was not like a concert or nightclub or anything, it was a small party after all. I tried to sit as far away from the speaker as I could, use earplugs (they should have been more protective though!), took breaks regularly. In some point I noticed I had muffled hearing and ear fatigue and left. The bass was too much for my ears. I spent way too much time at the party. I was feeling happy until I understood my symptoms were spiking that made me depressed.

My ears were ringing like crazy when I went back home. I experienced mild pain occasionally for the next day that went away. My hyperacusis did not spike and I have been able to live my life like before the setback with hyperacusis. But my ear still feels a bit clogged weeks after, my hearing feels worse. Less crisp and clear. I started to experience same symptom that has been gone for some time like my hearing is different in left and right ear and ear fullness. I can't enjoy music. Weird seashell sound and whistling sounds are back, reactiveness of my tinnitus is worse. Tinnitus has bothered me so much I feel like I am back in square one again. I need to mask my tinnitus constantly to cope, before the party I barely recognized it some days. I am afraid I did harm to my ears and I don't recover from this anymore. I feel like my mood is really low because of the symptoms. The party wasn't worth it and just made me sad. People can just have fun and I have to pay a terrible price for going to social events.

I have used Magnesium, combination of vitamin A, C, E that I read can be beneficial after sound exposure. I just hope these symptoms will pass.