Some additional information on Hyperacusis/Tinnitus--
Questions and AnswersWhat is hyperacusis?Hyperacusis (Hyper-a-CU-sis) is a collapsed tolerance to normal environmental sound.
All sounds are perceived as too loud. Also quick shifts in sound are difficult for the patient to tolerate. Hyperacusis can occur in one or both ears. It can occur suddenly or over a period of time. It can be accompanied with or without hearing loss. If the hearing loss is significant the condition is called recruitment. If the hearing loss is minimal, typically it is referred to as hyperacusis.
Hyperacusis can also be accompanied by tinnitus (Tin-EYE-tus). Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the head when no outside sound is present. It is typically referred to as ringing in the ears but others may describe the sound as hissing, roaring, pulsing, whooshing, chirping, whistling or clicking have been described.
Is hyperacusis a common problem?No. Hyperacusis is rare. The most common reaction to a noise injury is hearing loss and/or tinnitus. It has been commonly reported that 50 million people have tinnitus. A common report from the American Tinnitus Association (
www.ata.org) has revealed that approximately 40% of tinnitus patients have some difficulty with hyperacusis. Actually 40% of tinnitus patients have sensitivity to sound but this is NOT hyperacusis.
It is only when the patient has significant, pronounced sensitivity to sound where their loudness discomfort levels (LDLs) so collapsed that they impact their lives on a daily basis. True hyperacusis is so rare that most hearing doctors do not know of the condition and often subject the patient to hearing tests which further collapse the patients tolerance to sound. It is for this reason that a doctor must establish the patients LDLs before any hearing tests are administered.Is hyperacusis a disease?No. Just as a fever or headache accompanies many different illnesses,
hyperacusis is a symptom. Although many times people complain of being sensitive to sound for a short period of time following a loud rock concert or while they have a migraine headache, this is not hyperacusis. Hyperacusis a symptom where the patients tolerance to sound does not improve. The most common cause is from a significant noise injury. Other causes of hyperacusis can come from Lyme disease, Bells Palsy, TMJ, drugs which are not ear friendly, irrigating (cleaning) the ears, Williams Syndrome, Meneires Disease, and just a host of other illnesses.
What causes hyperacusis?There is speculation that the efferent portion of the auditory nerve has been affected (efferent meaning fibers that orginate in the brain which serve to regulate sounds). Others feel hyperacusis is a brain processing problem specific to how the brain perceives sound. Others feel it is a combination of both.
Why is my hyperacusis often worse when I wake up and before I go to bed?Individuals with hyperacusis have ears that yearn for total silence. Night time is quiet time. After a full night of total quiet, it is often hard for the hyperacusis patient to face the noise of a new day. Some hyperacusis patients even wear ear protection at night and it even becomes more difficult to face the noise of a new day. This is just one example of why the patient is being given a wrong directive from their survival instinct and living in total silence is the wrong approach.
Hyperacusis patients also experience sound fatique. At the end of a day their ears are tired and less tolerant of noise. Almost all hyperacusis patients experience a symptom commonly referred to as fullness in the ears. It is a feeling where the patient feels pressure in the ear or the sensation that someone is actually pressing on their eardrum. Other patients feel pain or burning in the ears.
From time to time doctors will tell the patient that the ears are incapable of experiencing pain. This is not true. What should I do about my hyperacusis?You should have a medical examination by someone who is knowledgeable about hyperacusis. There are very few doctors in the world that understand hyperacusis. As a starting point you can visit the website for the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy Association (
http://www.tinnitus-pjj.com/referral.html). Individuals listed here also administer a retraining therapy which is similar to tinnitus retraining but is customized for the hyperacusis patient so they can re-establish their tolerances to sound.
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ABISHAG ~~
My personal experience is that my Hyperacusis/Tinnitus DID COME on me suddenly. However, it was almost 2 years after a brain aneurysm (surgery), that all of a sudden I couldn't understand
WHY EVERYBODY OUTSIDE our home was talking SO LOUD! A few months later even our television was off-limits.
My husband watches the television with a special headset, so the sound is muted for me. He has sacrificed his entire lifestyle for me. Thank the Lord we both are Christians.
Going to church became unbearable. I still must wear ear protection 24/7's, yet compacted cotton balls work during the day. I must wear earplugs with a high decible level when I go outside of our home. There have been cases when I found I had to leave a grocery store. The banging of the shopping carts, and the intercom system was/is dreadful
! Taking an anti-anxiety medicine is NECESSARY! I use Xanax.
I have this condition in both ears along with the tinnitus. It fluctuates with the medication that I must take. The OTC Vinpocetine helps minimally with the ringing sound in my ears.
Also caffeine is not good. Yet, I enjoy coffee sometimes.
As one Medical Doctor expressed, 'it's sometimes a toss-up', as what an individual can/will tolerate.
An acquaintance of mine had a bad case of bronchitis. It was following her several weeks of medical treatment that she became 80% deaf. She waiting too long to seek professional Medical help. Yet, she STILL has hyperacusis.
It is the noice decible levels that offset her tolerance. Pain is expressed differently for each person. Even the earplugs can cause the pain. Yet, we must deal with it as best we can. I know it is the grace of the Lord that I am still alive. Therefore,
I must agree with King David, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word."
In all things give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (Notice it says, "IN",and not "FOR". 
I was not following the Lord's Word, yet I thought I was a Christian. I believed in the Lord Jesus. Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, and do not do the things I say?" I did a lot of soul-searching and HE FOUND ME. It was I who was lost, not the Lord Jesus.
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I once was lost and now I'm found was blind but now I see!
AMAZING GRACE!
JESUS IS LORD! JESUS IS OUR CREATOR! JESUS IS GOD! (Triune God)
