Everything Is Much Louder Now

I have had Tinnitus for a couple months now, and now things that didn't use to sound loud, sound really loud. People talking, the subway, it kind of "hurts" now in a way.... Like I still have the ringing but also things just seem really loud. Does anyone else have this feeling? What do you suggest?

 

Sounds like you have developed hyperacusis.

 

what does that mean

 

Well, "Dr. Google" does a better (and also more prepared) job of explaining that. Hyperacusis is sensitivity to everyday sounds (that would not cause irritation in healthy people). Tinnitus is commonly correlated with hyperacusis (but not always).

Here is an extreme example of what it is like to live with hyperacusis:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/quest-silence-living-wth-hyperacusis/story?id=22284805

 

The central gain theory of tinnitus is basically that it's a result of (normal) internal sounds being incorrectly amplified, so it's not super surprising that it might also relate to normal external sounds also being incorrectly amplified.

This can work in a toxic feedback loop with stress levels and anxiety, because when the limbic system (fight or flight, a normal part of the anxiety state) is being activated, all of our perceptual inputs are expressed more acutely.

 

oh good great. sounds great. fantastic. thanks.

 

Yep. Welcome to the show.

 

I started off with sudden emergent tinnitus, then a month later I thought the car stereo had broken. It wasn't the car stereo.