How Would I Know If I Am About to Develop Pain Hyperacusis (Noxacusis)?

Hello everyone, at the start of the year, I developed reactive tinnitus which seems to be getting better. I currently do not have any pain within my ear and I do not feel any spasming of my middle ear muscles.

I have a slight sensitivity to sounds, like plates and silverware clanking, and some digital noises will aggravate my tinnitus.

I have noticed an odd tingling on my outer ear skin, like on the very outer ear where my ear lobe is... This has been happening for a few days now. Again, I have no pain within my ear canal and most sounds do not trigger sensitivity. Is it possible that this could still be the dreaded noxacusis starting, or does it always start inside the ear before travelling to the outer ear parts and the face? Would there also be more loudness hyperacusis with this?

I do also have issues with my TMJ and some minor neck issues, likely from bad posture. so I wonder if there might be some slight neuralgia-like symptoms coming from that.

 

Seems like it is more loudness hyperacusis. If you had noxacusis, you would know. Trust me. If you’re getting slight discomfort, I don’t think you should really worry. Just don’t push through any noise that messes you up. Avoid loud noise and you should be fine. If you had noxacusis, you would get deep inner ear pain that would linger for hours after the sound exposure. It does not sound like you have it luckily.

TMJ can cause some middle ear issues; I would try and treat that if you can.

 

@Brian Newman, I have the same tingling but it feels like it’s in my middle ear and around my neck. My hyperacusis seemed to have started around a week and a half ago. I’ve always had sound sensitivity since getting tinnitus about 5 years ago. Does this sound like noxacusis?

 

If the pain can be described specifically and doesn’t linger, it’s probably not noxacusis. I wouldn’t classify tingling as noxacusis. It’s probably just another crazy side effect of hearing damage. Just do your best to set it off as little as possible and you should be fine.