Exercising with Hyperacusis

Since I got hyperacusis six months ago I have stopped exercising completely. I used to play basketball multiple times a week, go to the track two or three times a week, and go to the gym four or five times a week. I would love to get back to these activities as I'm sure they would provide a big psychological boost. Unfortunately they are all way too loud for me since my ldls are between 55-60. I'm just wondering if anyone has advice on how I can get myself back to doing these things. Should I try going eith ear plugs the first few times or will that just set me back even further??

 

Hi Alexandor, in my own experience suffering from T and hyperacusis, the more "silent" i get, the worst the hyperacusis is. also T. Go to do all of your excersices and gym activities and use earplugs... if you think it is not so loud, dont use them. The more your ears adapt to normal sound levels, the more your hyperacusis will improve.

I use this eargplus, are amazing because all of the loud and bad sounds are blocked around 20-30 decibels, but you can still hear people talking. In fact, you will hear voices better than people around you. And best, this earplugs are soo discrete and comfy. Send you the link:

http://www.amazon.com/LiveMus-HearS...UTF8&qid=1429572837&sr=8-1&keywords=livemusic

Regards!

 

Thank you for your reply!! I went to the gym to play basketball today, and it was way too loud for me!! The squeaking of the shoes, the bouncing of the ball, people yelling and clapping. All of these sounds really bothered me! So I put in ear plugs and played anyway!! Now my ears feel really full and my hearing is muffled!! This is making me super anxious. Is it actually safe to wear the plugs during strenuous exercise or is it possible I've caused some damage???

 

@Alexandor basketball indoors is rally loud ive played i use to play before T .. But aftee t i started playing outdoor is much more silent.. Except for the ball bouncing but i stopped completely when my really bad h came and stopped lifting the gym was way too loud for me but thats me.. Urs might be lower in volume..no if u ears are muffled i dont think u caused damage . Do u feel a increase in volume from ur t?

 

My ears are way worse after playing sports with ear plugs in. Think it has something to do with the occlusion effect. You get a ton of bone conducted energy/vibrations while you bounce around (especially basketball), this causes a lot of noise in between the ear plug and your ear drum. This noise normally escapes out the ear canal but since its blocked (ear plugs) it bounces back at the ear drum. I have had major issues with this playing tennis as well as hockey. I had the same thing, full ears and muffled hearing. I also experienced lasting pain and ear drum twitching directly after as well. I thought it was all my imagination or coincidence the first few times but this was all definitely linked to the ear plugs in my case.

 

I run in place or walk I cant stand noise I cant get through it!

 

thanks for your response Telis!!! When you had this problem, how long did the muffled hearing/full ears feeling last?? It didn't cause any long term problems right??

 

No problem Alexandor. Umm....I'm not sure. My T has progressively worsened but I can't say that this was the reason for sure, I have done it so many times I guess it could be. If you have only done it a couple of times I wouldn't worry. Hours with plugs in on the court, all I could hear was loud booming and pressure in my ears as I bounced around the court followed with muffled hearing and pain. I now use cotton which is not a lot of protection but gives me something. I compress the cotton as hard (roll it with my fingers) as I can, mould it into the shape of a ear plug. As I sweat, they seem to stick to my ears really well. I get no occulsion effect either becasue of the dampening effect from the soft material or becasue the vibrations can escape the ear. For whatever reason this seems to work for me. Just to warn you though if you try it, you probably only get 5-7db protection, maybe 10db if you really compress and create a half decent seal. I domt know, something to try anyway. For me it's not enough protection but takes the edge off A LOT! Good luck man.

 

Yes start playing outside, less echo`s ... don`t worry about your ears, putting in earplugs doesn`t do anything to your hearing except protect it ... it is the T and H that are reactive and create the muffed feeling. wait a day and things will balance out again ...

 

Disagree. The occlusion effect can be too loud for those of us with H. Internal noise can get quite loud with high impact sports, putting ear plugs in adds A lot of volume to this.

Why is this so confusing for people, we hear a lot of noise through bone condution. These low frequecy vibrations normally escape through the ear canal after being heard. With ear plugs in, these vibrations fire straight back at the ear drum.

"The occlusion effect occurs when an object fills the outer portion of a person's ear canal, and that person perceives "hollow" or "booming" echo-like sounds of their own voice. It is caused by bone-conducted sound vibrations reverberating off the object filling the ear canal. "

If this messes with our ears and makes them sore it's something to be looked at, not just sluffed off like it's all BS.

 

Thank you for the explanation and clearing up something I did n`t know.

 

Np. Sorry for being snappy man. I have really really struggled with this problem playing sports. Just frustrated. Again sorry, I should have just explained it.

 

The strange thing is, I've experienced the occlusion effect before (getting a haircut with earplugs in) and it was so unpleasant I had to stop the haircut immediately. But during basketball I didn't experience anything close to this. Nothing sounded loud at all except my breathing but even that didn't bother me despite my55-60db ldls. Nonetheless when I took out the earplugs everything seemed incredibly muffled.

 

Well if it doesn't sound loud I wouldn't worry at all, keep using them.

 

The first time I ever heard about occlusion is recently and here. Well..would of been nice to know almost 2 years ago..where does this info come from?

 

Yea I had NO issues with earplugs and " occlusion affect" until now. Very, very odd.

 

I've noticed this "occlusion effect" too. Most notably at the dentist where I actually felt better not having my ears covered.

 

Ive been running in place for 20 mins or so. Everything goes up after Im done. This condition does not give one a break!!

 

If my T increases, so does my H..maybe @ruben ruiz the same is happening to you?

Now that my T has just generally worsened, my h is increased and I am getting no breaks. .

I would try 20 mins of exercise a day to at least help with mood...it doesn't have to be 20 mins at once.

 

Lynn, I have talked about occlusion effect on heresince before you were born...but the reason it was dismissed was because certain tinnitus and hyperacusis sages said there was no such thing and/or it was not a problem...

 

Well I've only heard about it now..and you also told me to protect my ears from the beginning. You never mentioned occlusion then..

And I think we're the same age lol


anyways no problems if it's true and it can worsen someone, nothin I can do now.

 

Yes I admit I did not warn you not to speak loudly while plugged - my bad. I was trying to convince you to use earplugs in general, I never knew you were gonna follow my advice lol. I think ear plug manufacturers should put a warning label on the packaging!
Do not speak loudly while using due to occlusion effect" haha