Ear Pain — Is It Hyperacusis?

Hi everyone,

I had a question in regard to ear pain I've had for the last couple of months. So basically I've been experiencing this inexplainable ear pain in my left ear, of which I do not know whether it is categorized as hyperacusis.

It feels like a burning sensation with some occasional shooting pain. It is not always present, and it obviously flares up with increased sound exposure (volume as well as duration).

When I wake up in the morning, I don't feel a thing (it's completely gone). But as soon as I put on music (especially music with bass tones) or when I talk to people for an extended period of time, it starts to flare up. Usually, it takes a few hours for the ear pain to decline to a point where it is not really bothersome anymore (in the absence of sound).

I've had this for about 6 months and I do recall that somewhere in those 6 months it got slightly better, but worsened after I listened to a loud recording. The loud recording sounds a bit odd, but basically I record my lectures on my phone so I can re-listen them at any time. Unfortunately, some lecturers do not use a microphone, which forces me to increase the volume so I can hear what they say (which sometimes is pretty loud).

I also work at a pretty noise place. When I do not wear earplugs, the pain starts to flare up with increased sound exposure (it's not particularly loud; people talking and not loud music playing in the distance) and when I do wear earplugs, it does not flare up.

Does this sound like hyperacusis? Because as far as I know, I've always interpreted hyperacusis to be oversensitivity of sound on short term. Hyperacusis is something I've had ever since my tinnitus started (about 3 years ago), but that was never really linked to physical ear pain for an extended period of time, only at the time of sound exposure. So essentially, the way I've always experienced my hyperacusis (oversensitivity of certain bass tones and loud volume) is not similar to the 'prolonged' ear pain I'm experiencing right now, at all.

I can't seem to find the appropriate information in regard to my symptoms. I've been to my GP, because I immediately thought of an inflamed ear, but there seems to be nothing visible physically. I've also tried ear drops that he prescribed, which did not help at all. Is it possible that this is 'invisible' inflammation of my left ear?

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any help would be appreciated.

Kind regards,
~Labyrinthine

 

yes, this is hyperacusis with pain or technically classified as "noxacusis".

I really hope it goes away, sound therapy can help but over all this just shows how important bio-medical research is needed for people suffering.

 

Can you describe the pain? And for how long have you experienced that pain?

 

Hmmm, it's hard to explain, really. It feels like the pain is "external", as if the pain is localized specifically in the ear canal. Like I said, it's this burning sensation and it becomes this sharp pain especially when sound persists. T has been around for 3 years, I think the H came a bit later. The physical pain is something that started just recently (6 months tops).

 

Me too... It really reduces the quality of life. My life has been on a halt ever since this started as talking to people hurts my ear

I happen to study biomedical sciences, maybe, in a distant future, I'll be working on a T/H remedy myself