ENT Thinks I Have Dysacusis — Horrible Sharp Sensations If I Use Earphones / Headphones

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated, I’m genuinely terrified at what’s happened to my ears and I’ve not managed to find any thread that sounds similar to my condition.

In October, I had earwax removed from my ears and they seemed okay. A week later, I was wearing earphones when I got a ridiculously loud notification which caused me lots of pain.

Ever since this earphones incident, if I wear earphones I will get a horrible sharp sensation in my ears (it’s like when someone cold touches a sensitive tooth) which can cause me bad headaches and make me feel ill for days.

I was told my ears were just sensitive from the earwax removal and it would die down, but it hasn’t gone anyway. I’ve tried using overhead headphones which are better but they can still cause the same awful sensation if used for too long or too loud.

After being unable to get anywhere with multiple GP visits I paid privately for an ENT consultation. He didn’t do any tests or diagnose me, but he said he believes I have dysacusis. He told me if I don’t start protecting myself from loud noises I’ll go deaf and I left his room crying my eyes out.

The ENT specialist told me that it’s due to visiting nightclubs, but I have never experienced this pain at anytime other than whilst using earphones/headphones.

I am scared to go to the cinema, or attend birthday parties in case I accidentally lose my hearing.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Thanks so much for reading.

 

Was it microsuction? You have pain hyperacusis... please protect your ears. I don’t think you’ll go deaf. Again, please protect your ears. Remain positive if you can... there’s a good chance you’ll recover.

 

Stop any kind of headphone or earbud use. Protect your ears from loud environments.

 

George,

You're most likely not going deaf. What you're mostly likely experiencing is called hyperacusis, it's pain response to noise. I had it around age 21, it faded bit by bit after about 18 months. My hearing test showed no issues. Some people have it worse than others, and it takes a varying degree of time to repair. It was likely triggered by that loud noise and anxiety doesn't help it. You're clearing in a panic but I assure you everything is going to be fine.

Don't let the doctor freak you out, noise induced hearing loss is also usually seen firstly in 4-6 kHz, so even if you did get long term loss from continuous loud noise exposure you'd likely see it only starting to show up there first. Your whole ear won't just go deaf unless you have hearing loss through disease and you would notice it very obviously. Although it doesn't hurt to get a hearing test to have on file so do that as well as see an ENT to ensure nothing else is going on.

What the doctor is saying is to protect your ears like everyone should and many people do. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong, it's simply a necessary thing if you're going to go out a lot. Just do not push your luck in the early days by listening to loud things and anything for long durations.

For example, I have worn a full 30 dB earplug in my sensitive ear ever since when going out and I've been out to bars and events 500+ times since, my hearing test still hears up to 15 kHz at age 35 and show no loss in the testable frequencies. My other ear which I only wore half an earplug in was mildly affected at 4-6 kHz, but even then still within 'normal' range.

I assume you're young? If so, don't stress, just start being safe.

Your ears will be sensitive for a while so I'd advise not pushing them with headphones, especially long or loud.

It may suck for a bit, but it's very easy to adapt. Get musicians moulded earplugs, get the highest rating 26-30 dB reduction. Or use foam earplugs correctly and deeply.

Probably keep it really chill for the first month or two and wear earplugs in loud places/where it may hurt. But try to keep positive and live a relatively normal life otherwise.

I'm not sure of your age, but I actually still went out with earplugs at that time and still worked on music daily with hyperacusis, it sucked but eventually went away.

I hope that this at least makes you feel somewhat better.

 

First let me say that I am sorry, I know this kind of thing can be very frightening, but know that most of us in this community experience similar symptoms.

I think your GP did you a disservice, my guess is that the GP wanted to impress on you that your ears have taken a bit of a beating over the course of your life and now need to be treated with care, but didn't take into account how frightening it is to use the word deaf.

Did you get an audiogram? What is your actual hearing like? All of our hearing slowly gets worse with age, but unless there is an underlying disease/injury you shouldn't keep getting worse unless you keep going to clubs, over using headphones, and other loud stuff without ear protection. After whatever happened to me I experienced quite sharp pain to a number of sounds for months, but over time that part has gotten a lot better for me.

From the little bit that you described, I'd give my ears a couple months to heal and then make sure that you have some ear plugs with you if you are somewhere loud. I think the doctor has a terrible bedside manner, Nothing to freak out about.

 

Hi George,

Try not to get too down because it's likely that the tinnitus will improve with time. For this to happen I think it's important to follow my suggestions but ultimately the choice is yours whatever you decide to do.

Before the earwax was removed by microsuction, did you apply eardrops/olive oil 3x a day to each ear for 10 days? If you were not advised to do this before having the microsuction there was a risk of irritating the auditory system which can cause tinnitus to develop for some people. Whether a person has wax removed by ear irrigation or manual removal using a curette, eardrops should be applied 3 times a day to each ear for 10 days before having the wax removed, to try and avoid any complications.

I suggest that you do not listen to audio through headphones, earbuds, AirPods or headsets even at low volume as there's the risk of making the tinnitus worse. If you live in the UK my advice is not to go to any more private ENT doctors. Speak to your GP as you will get the best help and long time aftercare for tinnitus under the care of the NHS that no private practice can match in the UK.

Unless a person is experiencing deafness, problems with balance, dizziness or acute pain in the ears, it's best to leave them alone and wait for an ENT appointment under the NHS. There is a good reason for this which is explained in my article Tinnitus, A Personal View, in the the link below.

Please go to my started threads and read: The Habituation Process, How to Habituate to Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, As I See It.

Try to avoid quiet rooms and surroundings by using low level sound enrichment especially at night. More about this is explained in the link below, New To Tinnitus What To Do?

All the best,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

I am amazed your ENT knows what dysacusis is.

 

I was wondering if you had any tips on how you overcame your hyperacusis. I've found my sensitivity to sound actually getting worse since the onset of my tinnitus ~5 months ago (first high pitch ring, then low pitch rumble/buz/hum in left ear). I'm not sure whether I'm better off isolating myself in quieter environments (not always feasible) vs. exposing myself to louder (but still safe) noise so as to not over-protect my ears and exasperate the sensitivity.

I'm also not sure how much my anxiety is worsening the issue - i.e. my brain now associates high volumes with a threat, which leads to ear pain and fear of further damage, which leads to more anxiety and more fears of loud volumes... and the cycle continues.

Is there anything you did (or wish you had done sooner) to help with your hyperacusis? Did you also experience ear pain?

Thanks for your help.

 

How old are you? I was 21 which I think increased my chances. I suspect after life long damage it may differ a little.

There’s no guarantee that what I did stopped it or it just healed by itself over that time. But mainly I learnt to stop fearing it and over-wearing earplugs. I still wore earplugs in all loud places.

Once I was healed I felt like there may have been a psychological element to it. Even you are admitting there’s a psychological element. There’s only one other musician I know that told me they had hyperacusis. Considering I was also the most anxious about health and ear damage I suspect that’s more than a coincidence that I was one of the only ones with it.

There could be something there related to the fear, anticipation and focus on the ears, kind of like how people can have a horrendous time with low level tinnitus and then 6 months later not even care in the slightest. I’ve even heard stories about someone who only got pain from sounds that they hated like people chewing but not loud sounds they liked. Hyperacusis from Misophonia. Doesn’t quite make sense unless pain/focus can be caused from the mental aspect.

So from my experience I would have said: first of all you need to stop worrying and focusing on it. Show yourself over and over that medium level noise around you isn’t scary or damaging. At first it will feel like you’re going against your intuition but eventually you just stop caring. I actually find that you can do that with lots of anxious periods in your life, as soon as you shut off and just give up/don’t care, it seems to go away. An interesting example: I had panic attacks about my heart for years in my early 20s and thought I was going to die. I was pretty happy otherwise. After not dying for long enough I just stopped caring or reacting mentally despite my heart randomly going 130 bpm on the couch. After long enough of not letting it get to me or caring it just stopped. Ears felt the same way.

So take that into consideration.

I would definitely say I experienced an ache and fullness very often during those 18 months even with low level music but I pushed through and just lived my life til it went away. Protecting in loud places. If you’re young I’d say that would be the key after giving your ears a few months’ break. Also avoid headphones to be safe.

 

Thanks for these insights. I'm 34 so quite a bit older than you were at the onset of your hyperacusis. I'm not around loud environments all that often, I suspect my ear issues relate to overuse of AirPods (I have since stopped using all headphones).

While I suspect there is a mental element to it, I'd also note it's only the left (more damaged) ear that feels pain in response to loud environments (sometimes a delayed reaction) so I would think there could be some physical element as well. I now carry earplugs with me when I leave the house but I'm trying not to overprotect and pushing myself to tolerate louder (but still safe) noises. I had started wearing earplugs in the car but don't think that's a good idea. I haven't worn them on planes but will going forward.

Thanks for sharing.