Hey, Reactive Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Here (Noise Induced)

Hey all,

After lurking around here for a while and reading many of the posts around here, I decided to create an account and chime in myself. Mainly because I want to DO something about it, because I find the worst thing is to just have to sit and wait . I’m a 34 year old guy, and after having acquired noise induced tinnitus back in 2011 and recovered completely, I now got it again... A different version, though.

Also, I’ve seen several stories around here that seem to be very similar from my condition, which are on their road to recovery. So I’m intent on getting a similar thing going .

First, let’s start with a success story. Back in 2011, I acquired noise induced tinnitus at New Years, from some kid who found it funny to throw a firecracker next to my left ear. NOT funny. It gave me a high pitch tinnitus which gave me a lot of anxiety for over a month, but which then started to fade in its second month. To be honest I don’t really know at what point it was gone, but I do know I recorded 100%. So yes, people, I too can attest you CAN completely recover.

It took me a while before I started to trust music and headphones again, but after a year and a half, I bought an over ear headphone. Before the incident I’d been listening with in-ears a lot, but I didn’t trust those anymore. I figured these were at least safer. Also, I cut my listening down to a lot. Maybe once in a few weeks, or months. I’m not someone to go to concerts or clubs, and on that rare occasion I went to a concert, I wore protection.

But back in the beginning of November last year, I decided to listen to the soundtrack to Suspiria with my headphones. A rare decision nowadays, but I was really looking forward to that film and music. Turned out to be one of the worst decisions in my life, mainly because of a screeching, monotonous sound that Tom Yorke wanted to end the album with. It went on for too long, I should’ve turned the volume down, taken the headset off, SOMETHING, and I’ve been kicking myself over it ever since.

The result: I’ve gotten reactive tinnitus. It changes all the time, and can be a lot less bad in the mornings, some times almost non-existent, but it’s nearly impossible to listen to music over the stereo at moderate or low volume, as it will always get agitated.

A few weeks in, a friend sent me to the doctor, who then syringed my ears, which gave a big relieve. At first i thought it was completely gone... then slowly, it crept up again. And again. And again. And then, after a shower, it was magically reduced greatly, and I thought I was on my way to recovery again.

And then, last week, the week I thought I was making such progress, I decided to listen to low-volume classical music to see if I could mask it, see what happens. I turned the music on and... it reacted. So I thought, I shouldn’t focus on the tinnitus, I should focus on the music. Get my mind habituated. But then my left ear started to give a burning sensation... it started to get warm... to ache...

And now, I believe I’ve got Hyperacusis, which has gotten worse. While Friday I noticed only certain pitches were triggers, causing some kind of spasm inside my ear to contract, but last night, just listening to my own voice gave me pain. It’s some kind of burning sensation what creeps up on you.

HOWEVER, I’ve seen on these boards very hopeful stories of likeminded people which I was very happy to read. Those who have said their situation gradually got better, also by use of some therapy and getting their ears slowly adjusted to hearing certain sounds again. I would love to get on such a treatment.

As of now, I’m basically doing anything I come across. I’m getting magnesium supplements, ACV (which seemed to give a relieve the first time, so I keep drinking it), taking sleep supplements for night rest as that proves challenging at times, Omega 3 fish oil... anything I could find on this boards. Even if it doesn’t work, at least I want to be busy to have the feeling I’m in control, focusing on the positive stories around here.

@Michael Leigh, I want to first of all thank you for your posts that are giving me hope. IIRC you said somewhere that for reactive tinnitus (and now, painful Hyperacusis as of last weekend), there’s a treatment. This is giving me hope! I’m trying to get into this, but audiologists over here have a 12 week waiting line... Is there a way to maybe have a chat about this? I have some questions, and would love to get this thing going! .

 

the neurological gateway mechanism causing tinnitus will turn off, but the inner ear is still damaged and if a second Acoustic trauma happens the tinnitus will comeback.

You have hyperacusis with pain, it is not the same thing as reactive tinnitus like some people will try to claim, however you are free to try whatever method you want.

Good job taking magnesium and try to get a predisone steroid, look forwards to this clinical trials to restore hearing to help tinnitus and possibly hyperacusis
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/frequency-therapeutics-—-hearing-loss-regeneration.18889/page-111#post-410601

 

Well, I’m aware there’s a discussion going about how to call it, since basically every tinnitus is reactionary. I would just say that, no matter the right terminology. for the past months, my tinnitus seemed very much to constantly change, react to sounds, and there was no pain involved yet, which has now come into play only last week. So yes, that was probably Hyperacusis without pain, and now the pain has some as an added bonus, as a result of having been exposed to playing classical music on low volume...

Thanks for the link on the treatment that is currently in development and trials! I was well aware of it, and of the neuromod-developments. Both are looking hopeful, but I do hope they will arrive sooner than their current expected timepaths...

 

Do things sound excessively loud but not painful?

that is what people mean when they say hyperacusis without pain.

 

Well, no, and that is the confusing thing. Things sound just as loud as they should be, it’s just that sound now inflicts pain... Isn’t that also a type of Hyperacusis?

I’m just learning about this... I thought I first had reactive tinnitus, which has now shifted into Hyperacusis, but the version with no sound distortion, but just the pain. As a contraction in the ear, and a warm sensation (with the ear actually getting warm, which can also be triggered by my jaw, or massaging of my temples).

 

thank you for providing this useful info. That's so weird I noticed the same thing that I can trigger the heavy numbness feeling using my jaw as well.

 

Yes, it’s a weird combination of the psyche and the physical. In a silent room, I can trigger the pain with my jaw, or massaging of temples. Also, I’ve had moments with sound where I could delay the pain or feeling of warmth by focusing on other things, thus “training” myself to have a tolerance to the sound (in a very small way). Last Friday, I noticed in the morning upon awakening that my ear got annoyed a lot easier by sound than they did later on during the day, when they seemed to have gotten more used to it? I don’t know... But it does strengthen my believe that this short-term result might also work on a bigger scale...

 

it's not psychological it's a real thing

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26553995

 

oh btw did you get tested for hearing loss?

 

Yes, I did, last week. There’s some drop-off in the higher frequencies, but it wasn’t significant. From the scale she used, somewhere between 10 and 20 was considered ‘regular’, or kind of normal, she said (I’m in the Netherlands, btw). I’m overall just below 20, but there was a dent in the higher regions where I got somewhere above 10. The specialist didn’t seem very alarmed by it.

 

Did they test for speech in background noise, music, or frequencies above 8khz, or only pure tones and speech?

 

Actually, it was only tones, tested via headphones at first, and then by placing something on the bone below my ear, which got more and more quiet, to see when I couldn’t hear them anymore. Several variations, also one where she gave me a hiss in my right ear, and tones in the other.

A speech variation I did myself online earlier, and I was quite capable to answer all questions, but speech wasn’t tested at the hospital.

 

now here's the fun part, I intentionally asked if you had hearing loss just to tell you that
"tonal audiograms" are scientifically inaccurate. Hearing loss in complex noise enviorments is a separate issue from pure tonal audiometry, audiologist are in the stone age when it comes to keeping up to date with research.


http://hyperacusisfocus.org/innerear/









https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378595516302507

 

Oh yeah, and I’ve seen by now enough cases of people online with tinnitus and no perceived or tested hearing loss, so I’m aware these tests don’t really tell you much.

 

When i got T ,(20 years ago) ,one the first things i noticed was the fact that if i put phones even just for a few seconds,my ear began to vibrate and only stopped after some minutes.One of my wise decisions on this thing of T was to drop out right away the use of phones.By that time i began with T and some light H ,who gone away and comeback ,but nothing to worry about.After some years of living with T i noticed that the kind of noise my T made had some relation with H.The days i felt my T was bad i didn´t noticed H.The days the sound was sharp i felt a little bit of H.
Five years ago i had the same problem you had.A damned ballon exploded centimeters from my ear.All the damaged i had was multiplied a lot and i got H that i was no longer able to ride off.I began to forget music on my stereo ,because the sound began to cause discomfort on my ear and make my T raise a lot.This last five years and specially the last year were very bad.In December 2018 i was caught by the firefighters headquarters siren in the street and after 3 minutes with my fingers on my ears and because that thing was not looking it was about to stop i took my fingers out of my ears for a minute and BIG MISTAKE. After that day all that i had was multiplied. My T gone over the roof and my H is making my life a hell.I had to began using earplugs on the street because the sound became to uncomfortable.I went g to the ENT(without big hopes i must say) and she said i should drop my earplugs and told me to do a kind of therapy.Play a CD for 1 hour and increase each day the volume a little, while i was doing relaxing exercises..She said 80% of the cases could be solved this way.I began to do it and after 3 days i began to experience a little pain(i never had pain on my ears) in my ear and fullness and the voices began to bother me, so i have to drop all that stuff, because i think all that done was to make all the things worst.
My advice is to be very careful with the things you do.Don´t force to much ,if you are not sure of what you will do.Each case is different and what serve to other fellow can or can´t be good to you.And for God sake forget music on the phones.

 

Hey James, sorry, didn’t see your post until now! (didn’t get an alert?). Thanks for sharing, sorry to hear about it. Yes, it’s weird how T and H seem to be related, and how it behaves. I do indeed notice how small things can worsen it, and it’s good to be aware of it. The phone for example, nowadays I only use the speaker, and that’s going well, not holding it by my ear.

To share my personal situation over the last two weeks, I have noticed that by gradually exposing myself to sounds, I am gradually getting over my H. Two weeks ago, for example, my own voice caused pain. Then I forced myself to do groceries without earplugs, and now, two weeks later, I can go to Amsterdam, to work for a morning, no ear plugs, no pain. I have experienced that, like others say at the forum, it’s like your muscles after a workout. Don’t stretch, don’t go over a line, but within what’s possible, do find new barriers and stretch them.

However! Do be careful with music! I’m talking about everyday sounds here, because in my experience, the sound of a piano or violin or a high pitcher soprano, for example, no matter the volume, can be very difficult for your hearing to process and can aggravate it more than a loud clang in the supermarket. For example, I have a lot less difficulty with going into Amsterdam and walk around the city than listen to classical music on low volume (although slowly I can tolerate music better, it seems).

 

@Bob den Hartog

Thank you of your kind words. I advise you not to use any type of headphones even at low volume, as you risk making your tinnitus worse.

All the best
Michael

 

Thanks, I know! I have completely sworn them off . When trying to listen to music, I do so in my living room, over my receiver.

 

Well, after all i am a survivor of this stuff.21 years living with it it´s not a piece of cake.I hope one of this days i can have some relief.By now my T goes between a 6 and a 9, depending on the days.I never can say what is a 10 because when i think it´s the sound i have it´s worst , i discover new boundaries.

 

Which brand of headphones you used?

 

Sennheiser!

 

Were you listening to them very loud? Or longer at low volume?

 

It was just the one time, where I listened to the soundtrack in full. I don't think the whole CD was so loud it could've caused it, it was mostly this one track at the end that got loud and monotonous and sharp, that did it.

 

Why do you ask? Because I'm trying to leave this mistake behind me.

 

Because my tinnitus was also caused by headphones but at lower volume for a longer time, I thought it was safe but turned out it was the biggest mistake of my life.

I think earbuds are safer than over-ear headphones since there are so many people in my office used to listen to the earbuds all day long but not having any hearing issues.

I don't understand why it only happens to us, or why there is no awareness of tinnitus from headphone induced tinnitus.

I also know a person near my city whose tinnitus was caused by the Bose headphones at 10 percent volume for 10 minutes of use.

These are a very dangerous devices that are very common in our society, how dumb people are who are using them on the daily basis.