First Time Trying White Noise Generator Hearing Aid for Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

Just thought I'd do a bit of an experience post here, so for the past 13 months I've had tinnitus, i had more or less habituated but needed anti anxiety medication to help me settle down.

Anyhow over the last few weeks the tinnitus ramped up and I was getting desperate, I went to see a well renowned expert in tinnitus and hyperacusis "Myriam Westcott", we went over new symptoms and she has loaned me a hearing aid which slightly compresses the high end frequencies combined with a low white noise generator. I've had the thing in for two hours and wow... It takes the edge off the tinnitus... I can still hear the tinnitus but as she explained to me that's important because we can't habituate to something we cannot hear, the white noise is a very soft noise and I can adjust between two different programs.. One slightly lower volume than the other, but it's certainly giving me some much needed relief, she said as my brain habituates to the non threatening white noise... My brain will push that further into the background and hopefully take the tinnitus along with it, As for my hyperacusis... She tested some plates clanging together from a few meters away that usually would have sent my eardrum into overload.. This time absolutely no pain or discomfort from the noise.. The compression works perfectly and it's extremely natural... Just feels like my good ear.

I just wanted to really share this experience so far in hopes to help others... I will continue to keep you updated on how my progress goes.

So far very pleased and feeling hopeful again.

 

Can you tell us the name of the hearing aid?

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...s-patients-university-of-south-florida.36807/

I’m wondering what the difference is between this hearing aid you are talking about and this device in this other thread.

 

Hi there Selah, the hearing aid I've been prescribed is the Phonak Audeo Marvel M30. It's got Bluetooth capabilities so you can also connect it to your phone and use tinnitus masking sounds via the app, currently I'm just using the soft whitenoise broadband sound programmed by my audiologist.

 

Yeah that's very interesting, I just had a read. Maybe the sound suppression capabaltiies are a lot higher on the device in this clinical trial, my hyperacusis was enough to make life generally uncomfortable, but it was generally all high end frequencies that bothered me the most, ironically my tinnitus is also a high frequency ringing.

 

Thanks for the post. I've had T 9 months but just 2 months ago got much much worse with new hyperacusis, reactive tinnitus, and sound distortion. Do you ever experience the reactive or sound distortion? If so, do the aids help with that? Also I am considering going on an AD as well. Has your experience been good using ADs?

 

Hey mate,

Sorry to hear of your affliction with t and hyperacusis, it can be definitely difficult to manage and for others to understand.

When I first got tinnitus I too had noise distortion, hyperacusis and tinnitus, your symptoms sound very much like Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome, which is what I was diagnosed with. You can do some research on it as there's plenty if info out there, but basically it's when a little muscle in your inner ear spasms due to a perceived threat, I got my T from a slap to the side of the face but you can also get from noise exposure/acoustic shock or stress. Do you also feel a tingling sensation with your tinnitus? I do slightly and it's very high pitched and several tones. I personally found doing dishes etc would wind up in my ear hurting if they were to bang together etc, the hearing aid has certainly helped with that even though I have no detectable hearing loss.


A hearing aid with some white noise and a slight compression adjustment should help your t and hyperacusis at least slightly and allow your auditory system to calm down, most hearing aid specialists will give you a trial period, mine is 60 days. I'd highly recommend seeing an audiologist who is trained in the management of tinnitus and hyperacusis to help adjust the aid to your specific needs, as the first audiologist I went to I felt didn't cater to my hyperacusis.

Myriam Westcott has published a lot of research on TTTS and I believe they may really be onto something.

Whichever way you go I'd definitely recommend one with Bluetooth connectivity that way you get the advantage of being able to stream whatever you like to the device.

 

Thank you so much for the reply. Did your noise distortion ever improve? I find this the most debilitating symptom.

My ears used to feel inflamed throughout the day along with bad headaches. Thankfully, those sensations have gone away. But things are definitely still too loud, especially high pitch stuff. And yeah sounds like dishes and silverware do sometimes make it feel like something twitches in my ear.

I will definitely ask about the aids when I see audiologist next. My last appointment was a bit traumatic. In the days leading up the appt I was actually doing a lot better. Seemed much less sensitive to sounds, reactivity seemed less and noise distortion seemed to happen less frequently. She did an LDL test and it got too loud. It aggravated everything and my sound tolerance collapsed way down and all my symptoms returned at their worst. This was about a month ago. She gave me a neuromonics device to trial. But I'm not sure I like it. After I use it, I feel my symptoms are worse the rest of the day.

 

No problem at all mate, the twitching in your ear definitely sounds like a symptom consistent with TTTS.

The noise distortion did return to normal for me eventually, as for the noise distortion as far as I'm aware it's basically your auditory gain has been turned up as a protective mechanism, the brain senses threat and this can lead to the auditory gain being turned up too high leading to distortion similar to the distortion if gain is turned too high on speakers/microphones etc. but I agree that can be very distressing.

Because it's allegedly an involuntary anxiety response I've been told it's very important to do whatever you can to calm down the nervous system. My audiologist suggest other forms of sound enrichment but I found them to be ineffective, this so far has been the closest thing I've had to relief.

I have pasted a link below that you might find informative.

http://www.noiseandhealth.org/artic...;issue=63;spage=117;epage=128;aulast=Westcott

 

Thank you for the Info.

So is the idea of the aids to calm things down to a point where you will not longer need to use them? Are you able to turn off the blue tooth function in yours? I am somewhat worried about the idea of radiation from bluetooth being so close to the ears/head.

I actually have an appointment January 13th with an ENT who also specialises in neuro-otology. I heard that he was a local expert on hyperacusis, so I am excited to see him. However, it was very hard to get an appointment. I have another appointment with audiologist on Dec 11. However, since she made my symptoms so much worse, I am not as excited to see her, and I definitely won't let her stick anything else in my ears.

Also, I have a deviated septum. I actually just saw a sleep specialist who believes it could be causing me issues with my sleep ( I have been dealing with insomnia) so I will be doing a sleep study in the lab. Depending on the results he says I may need surgery on my nose to fix the issue. The ENT I saw 4 months ago said my deviated septum would have no impact on my ears or my hearing or tinnitus, but after googling recently I keep seeing studies that say there is definite correlation of a deviated septum to eustachian tube function and ear pressure and hearing. I have seen a few ppl on here claim their H was due to a deviated septum, but they have since gone silent and I have never gotten clarification from them.

 

Hey how are things? Any improvement in the hyperacusis or TTTS?

 

@Jason E @Phat Tuna

I was searching Tinnitus Talk for some info on hearing aids possibly helping hyperacusis. After reading your thread I was wondering how everything was working out for you both since some time has passed. How are your symptoms? Did hearing aids end up helping long term and do you still use them? Thanks!