Dysacusis — How Common Is It?

I have been a tinnitus sufferer for the past two months - it's pretty mild.

What bothers me more is dysacusis. I can hear morse code-like beep over some sounds, like blowdryers, white noise, fans or car engines. It always sounds like it's coming from the source of sound. I obviously don't hear it in silence. It's really annoying to the point I sleep without any masking - I prefer my tinnitus to it.

Dysacusis has been with me for around one month. I believe it may got a bit quieter over that time, or maybe I just kind of ,,habituated" to it.

Is there any possibility of it going away? Do we know what specifically is it caused by? Is there any research being made about it?

 

Is it a low or high pitch morse code sound?

 

I have this but it’s a little different. It’s a pff pff pff over sound, with the pff sounding like if you can imagine shaking a bag of coins. Often I’ll get multiple pulses per second in both ears. I can’t speak to how common it is but it is intolerably discomforting.

 

I think it's rather lower pitched.

 

I have this as well. Fans and white noise machine sounds produce higher beeps and I hear a kind of throbbing for low sounds sometimes.

 

I have this shit and it sucks. Seems to go hand in hand with hyperacusis.

I hear it over music, fans, motors, high-frequencies, running water, sizzling, etc.

Also have noxacusis and reactive tinnitus.

 

I hear a high-pithced whistling sound over a lot of 'fan' or 'motor' noises (e.g. fridge compressor, loud computer fan, etc.) in addition to my regular electrical-static T. The dysacusis bothers me more than T at this point. I dread opening the fridge door if the compressor is off because I know it will set it off and I'll start hearing the whistle.

Wonder if anyone else with dysacusis has this particular experience and if it's gotten better for anyone. I've had the D for 5-6 months and it has not improved much.

 

Oh what's also bizarre is that the angle of my ear relative to the sound source seems to matter. There are a few angles (e.g. if I hold my head in a certain position relative to the sound source) that make the whistling lower volume/

 

It's so weird, my normal tinnitus doesn't even bother me at all. I can even sleep without masking fine.

If not for dysacusis I wouldn't even visit this forum. It's so weird.

 

Hi kamil - did your dysacusis ever go away? I'm having the exact same symptoms.

 

It's still present, but it gets quieter with time.

I sincerely hope yours will start dying down with time too. Wish you all the best.

 

Thank you! That gives me a bit of hope. Wishing you the best as well.

 

Does anyone here know of dysacusis completely subsiding? It has been putting me through legitimate suicidal ideation and I'm only one week in.

 

Cried reading this. That is me.
How long have you been dealing with that?

 

My dysacusis has gotten significantly worse while I have been managing much better with my tinnitus. My dysacusis and my hyperacusis are my big issues rather than tinnitus anymore, in spite of my tinnitus being multi-tonal.

 

I posted you previously that I managed to habituate to my dysacusis symptoms, until they got much worse recently. It is making me suicidal too. It's horrible.

 

I've got dysacusis too. Especially the words with S sound very bad.

 

Yeah it's horrible. I have that too. It makes me cringe.

 

From other posts I’ve read it appears that this can, with time, get better. I really hope so as it’s really messing with my music perception. I’ll be sure to post about it if it materially improves... fingers crossed.

 

How’s everybody doing?

I had dysacusis too. Mine was slowly getting better until I was used an otoscope and accidentally poked my eardrum. I’m so stupid. It came back worse than ever but my tinnitus is the same. The ENT said the eardrum was not punctured or ruptured so that’s good.

You guys hanging in there?

 

Struggling with dysacusis currently. Woke up one day and turned on the faucet and it had this weird metallic cicada noise with it. Still struggling. I don't even care about my tinnitus anymore. This dysacusis is making life not worth living.

I'm so sorry to hear yours is back worse than ever that has to feel so defeating. I hope it starts to get better again. How long did it take for you to notice yours getting better the first round?

 

@shelbynn, that clinking goes away slowly over time. Be nice to your ears at those frequencies.

I got new sounds, but the clinking is long gone. It took about 2 months... It started happening less and less through ear plugs, the volume was lower and it would spur up slower as time went on. Running water would set it off easily. That no longer happens.

 

I've been reading your other posts on your new tones and I'm so so sorry you're going through this. I hope your new tones go away with time as well.

 

Me too.

As I've quickly learned, some mistakes you don't get to make twice.

I really, really wish this hadn't have hit me at 32, It was mild for as long as I can recall before my noise traumas which catalyzed into this. At 60+ I'd feel like I'm "wearing out" so maskable tinnitus would be fine... this is ungodly though and I wish it were just static or ringing that you can hide with noise from.

I was somehow doing ok (and didn't know I was actually mild or medium-rare) right up until Thanksgiving then everything went to hell. I'm at least well done now. There's people on here that are charred. I have no idea how to move forward until things start quieting.

 

I started noticing improvements after a month or two, but then I got exposed to loud noise, or exert too much pressure. I’m miserable but I’m at the point to say fuck it as long as I can sleep that’s all that matters, because the new noises are not constant so it’s really hard to habituate.

The dysacusis is killing me but the nights I sleep I can deal with it through the day. It’s just fucked because I’m 22 with a great life with no hearing loss. I lived with tinnitus for 4 years. Now I got dysacusis from lifting too heavy weights and don’t have hearing loss? Life sucks lol.

 

I seem to get worse with weights too, and did HBO before I had an explosion of dysacusis.

When you yawn, do you hear any "wine glass" humming or any tinnitus other than the normal high pitched eeee?

That's definitely been my issue and seems to aggravate / be the same drone I have in the morning.

I feel like there's a fistula going on or some kind of mechanical damage an ENT needs to look at a bit more... but I'm special apparently...

 

That sounds incredibly exhausting. I'm so sorry you're going through this. I hope it subsides for you in time. I think us being in our 20's gives us some hope of that.

 

When I yawn, my ears crackle and do weird stuff but I only hear the wine glass when I hear other sounds like running water, the fridge and stuff like that. I thought I had a fistula too, I got a CT scan, but the ENT said no sign of one. I’m not convinced to be honest.

I think I could have a small one. How else could I get a small beeping tone, along with dysacusis? There has to be a cause, this stuff does not just happen out of nowhere.

 

Yeah I'm hoping it subsides. Very strange though, it's been a few weeks after the Prednisone and my normal ringing is gone. It never really bothered me before though.

The dysacusis is bad with the non constant beeping in my head and right ear. It's hard to habituate.

I hate having false hope but Frequency Therapeutics, Otomony, and Hough Ear Institute seem to have promising results. Frequency Therapeutics' FX-332 seems to be possibly coming out in 2023. I'm not sure if I want to do that treatment because they have to inject it through your ear drum into your inner ear.

 

I know you hadn't asked but for what it's worth I get a weird wine glass sound when I yawn. Granted, my tinnitus sounds like a wine glass being played so it's probably just regular old tinnitus. I hope this subsides for all of us. It seems likely since it's subsided for @Brian Newman and @Matchbox in the past?

It's been just under a month since the dysacusis started for me and I've noticed like a 10 percent difference. Running water will ALWAYS set it off but it's not quite as intense. The fridge doesn't cause it to distort anymore. I'm hoping this is slow signs of improvement.