From Darkness to Light, How I Recovered from Tinnitus & Hyperacusis

Do you still have the hyperacusis?

My hyperacusis from the SSHL has subsided. It didn't fade overnight. It is a gradual process. Someone told me his therapist told him to not wear earplugs all the time and that the more he was willing to expose to normal sounds, the faster his recovery. So I didn't protect my ears with earplugs as often this 2nd time around with hyperacusis. So it seems to have faded away sooner this time.

But everyone is different. Use prudence with your own situation.

Best wishes. God bless.

 

Have you had hyperacusis on two different occasions?

Yes, I still have hyperacusis. I have exposed myself to normal, everyday sounds, but I am not really experiencing any improvement. I know that some people have taken two to four years to improve and I am 57 so it might take longer. I am still listening to pink noise through above the ear sound generators. I have started jogging long distances again, but only during a very quiet time of the night. I have this belief that my jogging/running was very beneficial to my mental health and brain functioning back when I was running seven miles each day. I started walking instead and it just doesn’t give me the same relaxed feeling. I am hoping that it will result in some change to my brain chemistry and result in my brain adjusting to normal sound again. It has always resulted in a sedating effect so this should help as well. Please send me any encouraging guidance.

 

Yes I had the 1st hyperacusis over a decade ago when I first had high pitched tinnitus. That subsided in a year or so. Then over a year ago, I had SSHL on my left ear and a 2nd hyperacusis episode hit me again. It subsided also.

Keeping your jogging will help you stay positive and happy as exercise has a calming effect on the nerves. Good on you.

 

I have heard that jogging and the strenuous nature of it causing the head to be moved in a somewhat jarring way might not be good for tinnitus, but not certain about hyperacusis. I have read something about crystals in the ear being adversely impacted. Please let me know if you or anyone else has any thoughts on this issue. I have found long distance jogging/running to be very beneficial to mental and physical health, but this was before I had tinnitus and hyperacusis.

 

Are you able to go to cinemas/concerts again? I’ m scared to never go back to those beloved places...

 

Sorry for the delay in replying as I haven't checked the success story for a long time. I personally don't find jogging affecting my tinnitus. Perhaps you can post this question to the main support forum. I hope your condition has improved. God bless.

 

Sorry for the late reply as I have not checked the success story for a long while. I personally have no problem going to cinemas. I don't attend concerts. For loud movies I usually just use my fingers during the loud scenes. Best wishes and God bless.

 

What an epic post, thanks for compiling all that wisdom. I have taken CBT/DBT classes, and I see a lot of it woven into your advice. I recently started the Back to Silence method, and it turned my attitude around pretty quickly. Your post here deepens the perspective for me, so thanks. And also, by the way, thanks for sticking around on the forum. I see this post was from 2014, so I'm glad to see you're still helping others today

 

This thread is a lifesaver.

 

I've found that any sustained exercise that gets my heart rate up sufficiently increases my tinnitus, whether I'm running, using the treadmill at fast pace with elevation, or biking. And it seems to take hours to return to normal. But, despite the increase in the tinnitus volume, after a short post-exercise recovery period, I feel better than prior to the exercise. It can make a big difference if I'm feeling depression before the exercise, to feeling normal afterwards. I tend to do about an hour of exercise in the late afternoon or evening, and it reduces anxiety and depression for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to carry over to the next day at all. This is the same experience/benefit I was getting from it going back over a year, when my tinnitus ramped up to a new baseline level in early 2022.

I have tinnitus, apparently not hyperacusis, but there's no way I'm going in a movie theater. I thought they were loud even before my tinnitus increased, so I'm not taking any chances. But that's an easy sacrifice for me. Same thing with concerts or anyplace with loud music.

 

Dear @billie48, the author of this wonderful, very useful thread:

What should those with reactive tinnitus do? Tinnitus that is not masked by anything?

 

I think what I have read somewhere is that the masking sound should be just below your tinnitus sound. But, I am a novice. Let's wait for the experts.

 

Like @Heal82 says above, masking doesn't have to totally block out tinnitus. In fact TRT requires people to set the masking sounds slightly lower than the tinnitus so that your brain will have time to slowly habituate to the ringing without panicking all the time. I have had episodes of reactive tinnitus too. It seems to be an element of hyperacusis, sound sensitivity to certain sounds. Try to protect from loud venues but not overprotect to the normal ambient sounds of the environment you are in. One positive thing about hyperacusis is that many people do get better over time. I had 2 episodes of hyperacusis and both time it faded away within a year. So try to remain calm and positive so that you can avoid triggering the limbic nerves, which will cause worse reaction to the tinnitus. Hang in there with patience and hope. God bless.

 

Hi @billie48. I have hyperacusis and tinnitus after having my ear wax removed by ear Irrigation. I am currently working remotely. Do you have any suggestions for me?

 

If the hyperacusis makes it hurtful to listen to loud or sharp sounds, try to stay away or wear ear protection. You can try using musician earplugs to block off extra loud sounds while still allowing you to hear external sounds. Use prudence in ear protection to avoid developing sound sensitivity. If the tinnitus bothers you, try masking it to the extent that your hyperacusis can still bear the masking sounds. It is a patience game, as hyperacusis tends to fade or reduce in intensity over time. Take care. God bless.

 

This might not be of much help to you right now, but my hyperacusis slowly resolved itself over the course of about 3.5 years.

The process might sometimes be slow, but hyperacusis can get better.

Ultimately, the only things I know that actually helped me were Magnesium (to calm down), lots of rest, and protecting my ears in loud places – but not overprotecting them. For me, gradually getting used to normal sounds again helped. It was a slow process though, with several accidental setbacks.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

 

Have you ever had hyperacusis in the form of reactive tinnitus?

 

My tinnitus has always been a constant pure tone of around 7300 Hz, but varying in volume.

My hyperacusis purely came in the form of pain, triggered by sound.

 

Thanks @billie48 and @Fields for your valuable insights.

I developed hyperacusis on December 17, 2023 after ear irrigation to remove earwax. A couple of days before the ear irrigation I had developed strong ringing noise on my right ear which made me visit the clinic. The nurse, after seeing my ears, mentioned that I had a lot of earwax which needed removal. She then removed the earwax in both ears. The ringing noise on my right ear vanished and I was hearing everything very loudly. Initially, I was happy that my ringing noise had disappeared and I was hearing much better. However, on the night of the same day, I again couldn't sleep because I had a different ringing. A few days down, I started getting a lot of discomfort from everyday noise. That's when I realized I had developed hyperacusis.

I have been taking every precaution possible but my hyperacusis has only worsened. I am a little scared as to what I am doing wrong. Could I be overprotecting? Although, I have also read on many posts on Tinnitus Talk that hyperacusis gets worse before it gets better. I am banking on that.

 

You're welcome. For me it definitely got worse first. I believe, in large part, that was due to increased mental stress and anxiety. I became very fearful of (loud) sounds and how it would affect my hearing.

It took me a while to recover from that. When I did, though, my hyperacusis also started to get better.

 

There is no such thing as overprotecting. Anyone who says that is off their rocker IMO. You aren't going to break your leg by not doing things that damage it. I don't think ears are any different in that sense. Since your ears are already damaged, you need to give them silence as much as possible and only sounds they can tolerate. Give time for the nerves or inflammation to settle.

Just my opinion... as a man that got worsened by the doctors and people saying not to overprotect.

 

@billie48, your positive posts are what gave me hope in my early days.

You mention that you now cruise. Have you ever measured the dB rating inside a cabin?

I'm trying to travel again despite severe reactive tinnitus (and more issues caused by whatever triggered off this tinnitus), and I have always wanted to do a cruise, but was a little concerned over the constant engine noise and hum?