Anyone Have Phonophobia But Not Misophonia?

I can handle traffic noise but can't do the same with a moderately loud music in a quite place; I fear that those kind of sound would affect my hearing. I guess I can say I have phonophobia developed by hyperacusis. Anything else is fine like the loud creaking sound when the bus stops (although it's very distressing and makes me flinch instantly), but not with the loud music of commercial areas.

I'm very sensitive to sounds and fear them at times so I always find another route to get through them but don't think I have misophonia.

I searched about it and found that it's always related with certain sounds like munching and clicking your tongue. I gather that it's an optional fear of sounds, not hyperacusis.

Does anyone in this forum who has misophonia and how about telling us your stories?

 

No, what you're describing does not sound like misophonia. Misophonia has nothing to do with hyperacusis since it's not a type of hearing damage in the traditional sense of the word but they do often get confused since they often get lumped in together under the DST umbrella. Misophonia can be described as an emotional response (such as rage/anger) towards certain and specific sounds no matter the volume. Phonophobia on the other hand is only natural to develop if you have hyperacusis.

 

Thankfully, I haven't had phonophobia or misophonia but have corresponded with people that have tinnitus and hyperacusis, who went on to develop one or both of these conditions. It led me to write the the post: The complexities of Tinnitus and Hyperacusis.

To treat these conditions in most cases, a person will have to be having treatment with an Audiologist or Hearing Therapist.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-complexities-of-tinnitus-and-hyperacusis.25733/

 

Pretty much everyone with severe hyperacusis has phonophobia. How could you not? When certain volumes of noises lead you unable to do anything for months, of course you are going to be afraid of the impact of noises on your life. This fear isn't even irrational, which is why even people without anxiety tendencies get it as well. Misophonia is completely different.

I guess the caveat is if your hyperacusis is the type (there are many types) that doesn't get much worse from sound exposure, then it may be possible to minimize phonophobia, as you have the peace of mind of knowing loud sounds aren't going to ruin your condition.

 

IMHO, tinnitus creates a stronger mental link between hearing and mood. The sound input of the tinnitus is creating anxiety, fight or flight, etc... so it's not going to be surprising if external sounds begin to impact you more than they did in the past, both pro and con.

 

Thank you for letting me know of this. I really got confused by misinformation. It would be so hard if one gets emotional towards sounds no matter the volume... I don't have that yet.

 

Very true! I'm very anxious whenever I acceidently hear a loud noise and that it would impact my hearing in any way. It's a dreadful condition, hyperacusis. Thankfully, I got advised by a doctor that whenever I hear certain noisy sounds, just imagine that I'm listening them 50 or 100 meters away and I think that was a good advice.

 

Interesting, tho easier said that done! We live near and use trolleys for public transportation. Unfortunately they often overuse their 145 dB train horn for mundane things like traffic and with little warning. Even from a distance I now have quite a severe anxiety attack from that sound and deliberately go out of my way to avoid being on that street. And being anywhere near it when it goes off always send me into a spiral of worry about hearing damage combined with anger at the driver for using it in such a careless way. Really not an ideal thing to live near with H!