Bad Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

I am new to this forum. I used to have high pitched tinnitus briefly after being at rock concert in the 1970s. However it only lasted for a day or two at most back then. It wasn't till a particular event years later where it lasted much longer, and that was in the year 2000. That year I was taking care of my dads car for a couple months while he was in the hospital. One night the car radio broke, the volume, bass, and treble all went to full volume, and because it was at night and in heavy traffic, and I didn't know his radio, it took around 1 minute to find the off switch. The sound was so loud it was unreal. Anyway the minute I resumed driving after turning the radio off, I noticed the road noise was way louder than I had ever remembered it. I also had high pitched tinnitus in both ears, but not as squeally in the right. I remember going to play billiards with friends that night, and I couldn't handle the sound of the pool balls hitting each other.

The next day I was hearing everything too loud. Handling a paper or plastic bag, as well as running water, sound of the fridge, etc. When I went out to drive, I immediately noticed the road noise bothered me a lot. Going to the store, restaurants, etc where totally intolerable, and made the tinnitus louder. I ended up staying home most of the time over the next month or two. I wore ear plugs in just about all public places I went. I finally went to Johns Hopkins for evaluation, and they told me I had some hair cell damage likely from the acoustic shock of the car radio being so loud out of nowhere, but that I would probably get better over time. Well fortunately I did eventually get better about 4 months later. The hyperacusis pretty much completely subsided, and the tinnitus went to a minimum along with it. For 16 years, till a few months ago, I was comfortable with everything except loud events, and the movie theatre(especially the previews). In fact I had recently even tolerated Manhattan noise twice in the last year with no repra

About 4 months ago, I was at a slightly loud event which set off my tinnitus. The very next day I noticed road noise, mainly on the beltway was very loud. Unfortunately I had to pick up my mother in law from the airport, and felt I would just put up with the discomfort for 50 minutes or so, and the tinnitus, etc, and it would go away in a couple days at most the way it always had. Unfortunately this time, my tinnitus and hyperacusis didn't go away, and just got worse. Now I have had the worst tinnitus and hyperacusis in my life, and neither with go away. I went to a local Hospital ENT Clinic for evaluation about 8 weeks ago, but they just told me the same thing Johns Hopkins had told me when I saw them 16 years prior. I now am putting up with super loud squealing in my left ear most of the time, and some lower level squealing along with a off and on tea kettle noise in my right. This is especially noticable at night. I also am finding it, for now, very difficult to put up with restuarants , grocery stores, or any place with over head music. Road noise is especially bothersome on the beltway still.

Ok, so now I'm starting to get worried. Is this thing going to subside the way it did 16 years ago ? I am not too impressed with the treatments available either, such as TRT, and cognitive behavior therapy, as they simply help mask the sounds, but offer so solution for actually minimizing the problems. I however am currently reading about a Surgery for hyperacusis called Round and Oval Window tissue Reinforcement. This is very new Surgery, but so far has shown much success with the dozen or so patients that have had it done. I am not running to do the Surgery yet, but would consider it if nothing else helps.

Would love to get feedback on this. Thanks

 

I would say it depends on how loud and damaging that last event was - you aren't providing any details so it's hard to give any feedback

 

Welcome to the forum. I think the H has a high chance of going away. It did that for you before. It does that for a lot of people including myself. It was bad when I had it as it made all sounds so loud and piercingly hurtful. Like you I could stand driving road noise, restaurants, social conversations, TV, etc. Even my wife's soft voice hurt when spoken too close. So I know what you are going through. The T may or may not go away, but hopefully it will return to base line when your ears settle down.

By the way, CBT doesn't mask T. It is TRT that does that. CBT is more about retraining the brain how to counter distorted thoughts called cognitive distortions, like 'All of Nothing Thinking', 'Catastrophic Future Thinking' etc. All lot of people get help from CBT treatment of from self help like I did. Take care. God bless.