Do Sound Distortions from Hyperacusis Typically Go Away Over Time?

Hello everyone.

I've been experiencing sound distortions in both ears for about eight months now (likely as a result of my hyperacusis which set in around the same time) which typically manifest as a distinct whistle or whooshing noise in the presence of certain frequencies (it's especially apparent with high pitched notes from instruments that have a lot of resonance). Thankfully, my symptoms have improved a fair bit since onset (some distortions have vanished while others are less discernable), but they're still largely present in a way that can be distracting when listening to certain types of music.

So I'm wondering; do these distortions typically go away over time? Or are some of them likely to remain permanently? Furthermore, does hyperacusis typically go away over time? And if so, will these distortions follow suit?

Thank you for your time.

 

It’s really case by case to be honest. My distortions started from a heavy deadlift and I’m still dealing with them but they did get much better. Definitely depends what caused them. Same thing for hyperacusis, it seems much people get better over time. Only a few are stuck with it being severe. If you’re not severe and housebound, don’t let it get to that point because it sucks.

If you have loudness hyperacusis without pain, you should get much better and distortions should back off, it’s impossible to tell for sure. Distortions are such a tricky topic. I hate them lol, they make it hard to habituate. Mine seem to get worse from any straining activity, because I most likely blew a hole in my inner ear.

Protect your ears and let’s hope the pipeline for medicine becomes a reality this decade.

 

Yes I’d like to think so. It will either dissipate or it doesn’t become as noticeable overtime especially once the hyperacusis (loudness in particular) gets more stable. I have an on/off relationship with distortions, but a lot of the distortions I had in the beginning (late June 2021), which were mostly constant have dissipated and that also coincided with my hyperacusis which was also getting bad at the time.

My distortions were pretty glaring at the time. Many sounds were not being perceived as they normally would be. Wind, for example, literally sounded like the noise a rattlesnake makes with its tail. Anytime there was water running either through a shower or faucet, it sounded buzzy or sizzling like if someone was cooking bacon on a frying pan. Then there was music which sounded like a blown out speaker. There was feedback to it and was so difficult to process music. It’s nerve wrecking when you’re in a department store and the music playing there sounds completely wrong and you have to ask your sibling who is with you if they are hearing the same thing as you, and they respond with the exact opposite. Finally, the one that annoyed me the most were people’s voices. Most voices sounded robot-like (imagine Wall-E).

Good thing is that a lot of these distortions have dissipated as my hyperacusis started to improve, so I feel like there may be a connection with both. The only time I notice mine now are in certain instances like if I’m watching a sporting event on TV, the crowd noise will trigger it sometimes. Some white noise too.

It’s still a bumpy ride, but the trend is slowly going upward. I’m glad that yours have gotten better too. Keep it up!

I used to think the same, but I’m confident that in the long term most can get over it. I think the brain and its ability to help us adapt to things isn’t given enough credit. The brain is a powerful tool and knows how to normalize and retune things for us.

Suppose I had distortions for 25 years. For me, by the 25th year mark, I wouldn’t even remember how things were supposed to sound like pre-distortions. I would be sooo used to the sounds that are currently being heard. It would be my normal way of hearing things. This example is hypothetical though as I still do feel like most distortions get better for a lot people. The issue is there is no definite answer on how long it will take. Maybe we’ll have some remnants of distortions, but the brain will know how to adapt to it given time.

Also if anyone is interested, I made a thread recently about a musician dealing with hearing distortions. He was given an excellent response IMO about distortions by a professor of audiology.

 

Yeah I definitely noticed on bad days my distortions don’t bother me as much. They were horrible before though, just like you described yours.

 

Great post. Hyperacusis with all the weirdness that can go with it is such a game changer on top of tinnitus so it's mighty encouraging to read positive accounts from the front line.

 

I wonder what the cause could be for someone who still suffers from distortions 2 years later.

Mine came from a cold 2 years ago and I was born 80 percent deaf in one ear with moderate hearing loss in the other but had mild tinnitus that I only heard in silence for 23 years til one day I was getting over a cold and bam! Severe reactive tinnitus shows up with distortions.

Most of my “distortions“ are mostly reactive tinnitus which is in my case, unmaskable intrusive tinnitus that competes immediately with noise but it still makes things sound wrong and I still have reactive tinnitus 2 years later so obviously some damage occurred from that cold or something.

I took benzos for 3 months a year ago so not sure if that has anything to do with why my tinnitus not getting better because maybe it made it worse? Who knows.

I still get depressed that people on TV don’t quite sound the same as it used to because the tinnitus competes with it and being around fans and rain is rough. I don’t get ear pain but unmaskable reactive tinnitus is rough on its own.

My only other hope is trying different diets since I need to lose weight and I’m starting out with cutting dairy and eating more fiber if that makes any difference at all in my tinnitus and distortions.

 

Hey, @Ava Lugo, unless you noticed significant changes once you were off the benzos, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. It could have something to do with your hearing loss, but then again I also share very similar symptoms like you and my hearing is supposedly perfect, so it may not even be that. How bad was that cold? Viruses are known to cause ear related problems. Not sure how long it will take for your ears to fully stabilize, but I think 2 years is still a relatively small time frame.

Anyways, I think I can relate with some of your issues. Your reactive tinnitus sounds very similar to mine in the sense that it competes in volume with external sounds. For instance, one of my tinnitus noise (indescribable) will increase in volume the moment I’m exposed to something like an air conditioner. The more louder the AC gets, so will the tinnitus. Like you said, it competes in volume. The moment I turn off that AC and there is silence, the tinnitus noise will immediately go back down to a familiar baseline. It’s something I can always hear even in silence although it’s much lower (still very audible). It sometimes occurs in music too, and makes it hard to listen to as the tinnitus cuts through everything you’re hearing. Its in your face type loud.

So I totally understand how distressing it can be, there are times where I prefer to stay somewhere that’s silent, so I don’t have to hear a more louder + distracting tinnitus. But in the end, you’re still trap having to hear your tinnitus at all times. I’m starting to not mind my tinnitus (in silence) despite it being very noticeable, but I still have ways to go.

I’m a little intrigued on why you classify your reactive tinnitus as distortions. Distortions is more in relation with the way sounds are being heard. Hearing quality, sound perception, and strange sound effects are all involved here. It’s kind of tricky, but basically sounds are not being perceived as they normally would be is what I classify as distortions. So like in my case, a person’s voice literally sounded like the robots from the Pixar film, Wall-E if you seen it. I also couldn’t even hear music properly because it was distorted as a broken speaker. The way things are sounding come across as very strange and unusual.

The way I see it, reactive tinnitus has at least 2 known variations. This is based on my observation of other people’s experience along with my own personal experience.

Variation #1 - Your tinnitus will spike immediately after noise exposure. The spike will linger for hours, days, maybe weeks until it subsides. Spikes can include, an increased volume in baseline tinnitus, new tones emerging. I think this variation is a lot more common here on Tinnitus Talk and the one most people here will associate with when they hear the word, “reactive tinnitus”.

Variation # 2 - Your tinnitus tone(s) or noise will increase in volume immediately when exposed to certain types of noise. Tinnitus will match the volume of the sound source that’s triggering the reactivity. Once the source of sound is removed, the tinnitus that’s reacting will immediately go back down to baseline.

I know a few people here that also have/had variation #2. Me, @Wrfortiscue, @Guywithapug, and @MindOverMatter I believe. Its also possible to have both variations at the same time. I myself had both, but variation #1 has lessen up quite a bit on my end, that’s partly because of my hyperacusis improving I believe. Still have the annoying variation #2 though.

I tend to see people confuse variation #2 of reactive tinnitus with distortions which is understandable because some distortions can sound similar to tinnitus noise. But I think the key way to tell the difference between the two is whether or not you can still hear it when you are in silence. If you still hear it when in silence, then it’s reactive tinnitus variation #2, if not, then it’s likely distortions.

 

Just an excellent post @ZFire. I agree with the different distinctions, and I think they're very important to make when discussing phenomenons like reactive tinnitus and such.

 

Hello Brian, I'm glad to hear that your distortions have improved as well.

I understand that you've had tinnitus since 2016; did your distortions set in around the same time? I'm curious because I've heard that recovery from hearing damage is more likely to occur within the first two years following onset (though recovery is certainly possible after the two year period as well).

As for my hyperacusis, I can recall two separate occasions in which I felt terrible pain wile listening to people's voices through phone speakers, but this quickly dissipated within the first few weeks following onset. Nowadays, my sound sensitivity is little more than a mild discomfort at higher frequencies & volume levels (though just recently I began experiencing a persistent pressure in my right ear; maybe a viral infection?).

Thank you for sharing that letter, ZFire. It's always encouraging to hear from professionals who have a greater understanding of our symptoms and what may be causing them.

I'm curious; if the distortions are caused by the brain's attempts to re-interpret sound through new patterns of activity, then could the incorporation of white/pink noise be an effective way of re-tuning the brain's perception of sound? (considering that white/pink noise encompasses all frequencies across the audible spectrum).

 

No, my distortions actually started last year. From the acoustic trauma in 2016 I only had one damaged ear with mild tinnitus and hyperacusis. After barotrauma I developed severe distortions in my bad ear and hyperacusis in both. Then another acoustic trauma months later giving me noxacusis. My distortions are most likely related to a perilymph fistula from the barotrauma.

 

It is certainly worth exploring. I think the main thing is just to feed your auditory system with normal everyday sounds to get your brain accustomed to the sounds. I listened to soft and classical music instead. At first, the music sounded strange (a little flat etc), but the more I kept listening, the better my brain began to process the music, if that makes any sense. With hyperacusis, I would pick something that you are more comfortable with.

 

I'm of the mindset it is nerve receptor balance completely out of whack. Especially if it responds to SSRIs, Na blockers or benzos.

Mine have not gone away, however they have DRAMATICALLY improved with time. We are talking over a year of distortions.

I know the kind you mean as well. The answer is yes. Don't screw with it too much and limit your volumes.

Antioxidants and diuretics might have helped mine as well. Sleep absolutely helps, single-handedly the biggest help.

 

Thought I'm just gonna contribute to the pool of anecdotes.

I experienced Variation 2 even before I developed chronic tinnitus. I experienced it the very evening, the day I sustained my fateful acoustic trauma. I basically had an immediate tonal feedback overlaid over any sound. These were no spikes, but rather just an instant reaction. However, this did resolve over the night, but left me with the chronic tinnitus in the morning, that I have to this day.

We're all different, and there could be different origins behind said phenomenon, but to me, Variation 2 really looked like the result of pure hearing damage. I speculate it was nerve damage, but that it somehow recovered quite a bit during the night.

In the following months, I experienced this as a very mild residual effect; my left ear would make a squeal in immediate response to my computer fan. I don't experience any of this anymore, but it may just be due to my tinnitus having increased a lot permanently since then.

I still suffer severely from Variation 1, and to me, it clearly have a connection to the degree of loudness hyperacusis one has. In my case, it seems severe sound deprivation have maintained it, and partially induced it.

Stacken

 

Thank you for sharing this @Stacken77. I was mostly thinking of you and your case as I was writing up my definition for variation # 1. Other people too as well (you know the ones) .

I’m in complete agreement with you that there’s some sort of connection between loudness hyperacusis and reactive tinnitus variation # 1. It’s very easy to see how one could spike to noise given their heightened sound sensitivity. I’ve witnessed this myself as I’m sure you have too.

What frustrates me is how sophisticated tinnitus can get. I wish it were a much more simpler thing for everyone. I would prefer to have a tinnitus that pretty much remains constant with no strange phenomenons involved whatsoever. I can’t believe things like tinnitus reactivity is real. No one should have to deal with that.

 

Yea it’s bullshit that reactive tinnitus HAS to exist. Why can’t tinnitus just just be little ringing in the ear that’s easily masked for everyone? Lol. The brain is so stupid.

 

How sophisticated indeed. It’s so frustrating trying to convey these things to other people. My mother just doesn’t seem to understand anything I tell her.

For years now whenever she talks to someone who has tinnitus she tells me. They are all pretty much habituated from the brief conversations she has with them. But also their description is very basic. Like one lady had a washing machine sound, another some ringing, only one guy she spoke with said his train whistle tinnitus really caused him any distress and only early on.

The lady with the washing machine sound sent my mother a link to the ATA website to send to me just yesterday. It’s like, that’s nice, but it speaks to how little their tinnitus is affecting them that the only resource they’re using is the ATA imo. Like I’m three years in and your sending me ATA links as if I haven’t sought information and help before period and that’s why I’m suffering like I am?

And my mother doesn’t get that I don’t just have tinnitus. Like I’ve got or have had hyperacusis/noxacusis, reactive tinnitus, ETD, patulous Eustachian tube, TTTS, somatic tones, a variety of tones vs a single one, nerve sensitization in my face. It’s like THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. Why can’t people see that lol.

 

That’s why I don’t even bother telling others about my issues anymore, they won’t understand unless they’ve experienced it. Some will also have the impression that you’re crazy or something. I remember after telling the ENT about my distortions/tinnitus/etc, the next question he asked was if I was hearing voices. Pissed the hell off me. Never saw that dismissive/ill informed ENT ever again.

 

Wow, I can’t believe as an ENT who should know about those things, he would ask you that. I can see him being dismissive, but going that angle is just ridiculously unprofessional on his part.

I have seen someone else say their psych asked them that. While I still think it’s really crappy, I can see where they would be more inclined.

 

I've been dealing with nearly the same thing in my right ear for almost 2 years now, and I have days that are much better than others.

My own voice still sounds a little "broken microphone" like, although it has gotten considerably better over time. Stress management and diet seem to help alongside protecting myself from loud sound (which is hard since I work in healthcare, and I've had people scream in my ear too many times causing week-long spikes). I really hope that I can be free of this some day, so I can remember what normal binaural sound was like. I think a treatment is more than likely on the horizon, and I wish you the best. I agree with you that the brain is a more malleable organ that can we don't give enough credit to (and also barely understand)!

 

What treatment do you see on the horizon? Are you speculating or specifically thinking about Susan Shore’s device, OTO-313, or any of the other drugs in trials?

 

I have similar symptoms. My ear whistles lightly and my tinnitus spikes slightly to external sounds. This goes away when the external sound stops.

I've also read online about something called recruitment. I thought hyperacusis means ear pain.

The whistling sound doesn't bother me but makes me nervous I'm going to be causing more damage by letting that happen so I'm avoiding all kinds of noise a lot now.

 

I understand the difficulties that you are going through @Hottopic29 and want to express them. This is all part of the process of learning to habituate to noise-induced tinnitus. The oversensitivity to sound you are experiencing is linked to hyperacusis. One can feel pain with hyperacusis, others may not, but it's all the same thing, it's just people experience it at different levels of severity.

The more focus and attention you put to the whistling and spikes, the more of an impact it will have on your mental and emotional well-being. I also know it isn't easy to distract yourself from it because all this is new but things will improve with time. If you haven't talked to your doctor (GP) about any stress this is causing you then my advice is to do this. Try to direct your thoughts to more positive things, as this will help take the focus away from the whistling and spikes. Remember to use low level sound enrichment particularly at nigh.

Michael.