Hyperacusis Causing High Pitched Frequency Tinnitus Specifically After Noise Exposure

With the tinnitus being around for a little longer I understand my specific case a bit better. The ENT said I have hyperacusis from noise exposure, as I assumed he would say.

Whenever there’s noise around me, even if it’s just the playing of a single song, it reinvigorates the tinnitus (high pitched frequency) and stays around long after the noise exposure.

My goal is to be able to be able to participate in everyday life without these flare ups and be able to watch tv or eventually listen to music again as it is my passion, but it’ll still be a long time until music becomes a regular thing for me again.

Does anyone have recommendations for this specific variation of hyperacusis?

The state of the hyperacusis itself causes high pitched tinnitus flareups after minimal noise exposure that persists until it’s slightly lessened.

Thanks in advance, I hope that everyone’s situation improves.

 

Good luck.

 

I hate to gatekeep these conditions, but I think most people on here will agree that what you're describing doesn't fall under any known definition of hyperacusis. I've had tinnitus for 13 years and what you're describing is fairly common - a worsening of tinnitus after exposure to sound. Hyperacusis, which I only developed a year ago, is a different beast entirely. You literally feel pain and/or physical discomfort from sound, so unless you have that as well, I'm inclined to say you just have a reactive type of tinnitus.

In any case, the best thing you can do is live a fairly quiet life while giving your ears some time to heal/improve, if they do at all.

 

I have a similar symptom as @messedupmyears, and the reactivity seems to be decreasing day-by-day. Ever so slightly. The "reactive tinnitus" thing doesn't seem to be supported by the literature at all, but it clearly happens to many of us. It's interesting to consider if it is an outcome of damaged, but not outright destroyed, hair cells that still respond to sound...

 

It’s a bit of both, I would say that the tinnitus definitely increases proportionally with sound exposure, even if it’s something as subtle as running water. The result is tinnitus and pain in the inner ear feeling almost backed up inside despite it being clear. The pressure in my ears is unbearable.

That being said, I wear construction earmuffs regularly now but sometimes I notice the ringing more when I wear them. I’ve heard it’s best to have an on/off routine with them so the exposure of noise doesn’t become foreign entirely?

I get bored pretty easily and have found myself watching TV probably too often, maybe a couple hours in the evening. I know this isn’t good, but I’m going to do my best to use subtitles moving forward.

How much time (weeks, months, etc) would you say that the different levels of benefit are received after the majority of the time is prolonged silence?

The anticipation of results and the anxiety in the moment is really really difficult, not to mention with the hyperacusis and tinnitus...

 

Reactive tinnitus is something I haven’t heard of before but the phrase makes sense, my tinnitus is directly correlating to any and all noise exposure. For example, going to the grocery store, even with sound blocking ear plugs, I’ll notice reductions amount of ringing in my ears after a few minutes and that persists through the day and night.

Is there much research on it? Is it specifically called “reactive tinnitus”?

I also have ear pain and pressure among other symptoms so I have hyperacusis too, they all seem to be interconnected.

How is yours improving, are there things that you’re doing that you believe are helping? Certain products, supplements, setting specifics, etc?

I’m miserable and mine has unfortunately only been getting worse day by day... it feels like the tinnitus has set in for the long term, I’m hoping I can minimize and eradicate it before then but I fear it’s too late.

 

@messedupmyears, I'm sorry to hear your symptoms seem to be getting worse.

Would you say that you're also paying more attention to it in general? That may be inhibiting your brain from habituating.

It's a paradox that when it hurts, it gets our attention, and the more attention we give it, the more it hurts. But from what I read in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy literature, that seems to be the way of hyperacusis and tinnitus since they are predominantly psychological conditions. From readings on this website and elsewhere, I gather that "reactive tinnitus" is not an official term. My uneducated guess is that tinnitus will appear to be more "reactive" depending on the extent to which outer hair cells are damaged, since outer hair cells act as volume modulators that send signals to the inner hair cells. Outer hair cells are those that are usually damaged by loud noise, not so much the inner hair cells. If outer hair cells are still "alive", but damaged, I imagine we get more sound "reactivity"... but again, this is just my speculation. I recently read a digestible review paper on the topic, and if I can find it again, I'll post it here. My plan lately has been to add as many relaxation techniques to my life as possible and focus on helping my brain to habituate to the sounds... to assign the sounds neutral and benign emotional associations. It makes sense to me that the earlier I can do this, the better, since brains tend to get stuck in emotional patterns.

So I am using mindfulness meditation to observe the sounds as a useless but harmless part of my natural environment, taking PharmaGABA, Kava, and getting acupuncture to promote relaxation and enhance neuroplasticity, see: researchgate.net/publication/316532022_Acupuncture_Therapies_and_Neuroplasticity - and eliminated caffeine and alcohol from my diet. Also, I recently discovered that taking Melatonin seemed to be messing with my sleep patterns, so I cut that out because getting a good night's sleep is more important to me than just about anything.

Let me know soon how it's going, and I'll report back here soon too.

Wishing you all the best.

 

You're going to have to give yourself at least a year to see how you are trending. Just try to be patient and take care of your ears.