Hyperacusis Has Improved Significantly in a Span of Almost 2 Years

I feel like I’m in a really good place right now with my loudness hyperacusis. When I look back to when my hyperacusis first reared its ugly almost 2 years ago, it’s astonishing to see how far I’ve come. I was legit debilitated by loudness hyperacusis during the months of July 2021 to September 2021. I left my previous job and was reduced to hermit status. My hyperacusis was rapidly getting worse to a point where I was forced to wear hearing protection 24/7 for a month. Then something changed in October 2021. I experienced slight improvement in my hyperacusis out of the blue. This allowed me to start some sound therapy and from that point, I kept improving slowly in non-linear fashion. It never got worse. I know sound therapy gets a bad rap here, but I really do feel it helped with desensitization and regaining most of my sound tolerance back. The combination of time—waiting it out while taking precaution (avoiding hazardous noise)—and graded sound exposure/therapy seemed to do the trick.

A quick overview about my loudness hyperacusis. The 2 troublesome aspects behind my hyperacusis were:

1. A complete collapse in sound tolerance and sensitivity to sounds - I’m not exaggerating when I say I couldn’t tolerate most sounds without it giving immediate ear discomfort (no lingering pain). These triggering sounds would startle me and I would grimace in pain every single time. Many sounds in my own house, including my own voice (force to whisper) felt grating to my ears. I was just unable to tolerate it.

Examples: Using Silverware, closing doors, showering, chewing crunching foods, talking, crumbling plastic wrappers or aluminum foil, stepping on a creaking hardwood floor, rubbing my ears against pillows or bedsheets, and pretty much all high frequency sounds that you can think of.

2. Bizarre sound amplification - This is basically sounds being perceived more louder and harsher (than normal) irrespective of any ear discomfort. It’s like I had a heightened sense of hearing (think Daredevil). This might sound cool on paper, but in reality it was disturbing and awful. I could hear things that my ears would have never been able to pick up pre-hyperacusis. I could hear the electricity flowing through my light fixtures in a more profound and perverted manner. I would walk outside late at night and hear the streetlights buzzing more cruelly.

Even for the most minuscule of sounds like the humming of my refrigerator or a PC fan for instance, no matter how far away I was from the sound source inside my home, it still felt like the sounds were very up-close to my ears. The worse was standing next to an idle delivery truck with its engine running. It felt like being near a freeway airport. This level of sensory overload was too much to handle and enough to make me want to pass out.

Fast forward to now, I would say I’m somewhere around 80-90% recovered. None of these issues are prevalent anymore. My ears are more durable and can tolerate way more now. I don’t flinch anymore to previous bothersome noise. The sound amplification issues seemed to have stabilized more or less too (I haven’t tested this out entirely).

Hope my story will bring a peace of mind to someone out there currently dealing with this kind of hyperacusis. I thought I was a goner, but I managed to overcome it. I think most people do get better.

P.S. If anyone has any questions about the specifics, feel free to ask.

 

You've come a long way @ZFire. You are a strong individual, no doubt.

Thanks for sharing. It's so important that we do share these things. For most, with time, there is a way out.

 

I am very pleased for you @ZFire, so well done.

Michael

 

That’s awesome, @ZFire! Thanks for sharing, I hope your reactivity is following / will follow suit for you next

 

Always uplifting to hear success stories. These things really do take a long time to get better and with a lot of trial and error. Glad to hear things have gotten better for you @ZFire

 

Well done, Z. Really pleased for you and thanks for sharing.

Everything you've described I'm going through still. Hyperacusis onset will be 2 years in June. I think I'm quite a bit older than you so am foreseeing a slower recovery but still hopeful to get to the point where you're now at some time in the future.

Onwards and upwards!

 

I'm so glad and happy for you @ZFire.

 

Oh yay! How wonderful to read. So happy to see a new success story right now. You did that and made it through. Be proud and enjoy! Thank you for sharing.

 

Hi @ZFire, thanks for the update. My questions to you:

1. Any improvements to your tinnitus? Have any tones gone away, or has the intensity gone down? How often do you hear it and how distressing do you find it now?

2. Have you started going to the gym? At what places do you wear earplugs now?

Thank you

 

Well done man!

 

Thank you @ZFire for this great success story!

Stories like this are the only thing that gives me hope at the moment, provides motivation and strengthens me mentally!

I have a few questions:

How did your hyperacusis start? Was it "only" a loud event or something like this? Or were there emotional/mental factors like stress, anxiety or sadness that originally triggered the condition?

How did your ears react to digital sounds? Could you watch TV or listen to soft music?

Did the inner ear muscles react to certain sounds? (My left ear reacts with a "swoosh" to certain sounds. As a kind of echo.

All the best!

 

Appreciate the kind responses everyone.

Yes, to an extent. I accumulated over 15+ tones/noise during the progressive worsening phase. Some of the more distressing tones/noise I experienced in the beginning have faded over time, but my tinnitus is nothing to write home about to be honest. I hear it over everything. It fluctuates wildly—ranges from a moderate high end to severe high end scale—it’s perceptible on most days. I experience a great deal of reactivity too, although I’ve been having some decent days with it lately (it varies a lot). Tinnitus is still a day to day thing for me from the moment I wake up, but I’m managing okay.

With all this said, tinnitus doesn’t distress me anymore. I don’t experience anxiety, sadness, or panic from it. I may be bothered by it on some days and it can sometimes affect my mood and concentration, but that’s life with this condition. You have good days, bad days and neutral days with it. It is what it is and I’ve come to terms with that.

You adapt and learn to live with it. I try to keep busy with various activities. Shifting my focus elsewhere helps a great deal.

I work out at home atm and currently looking for a gym that’s suitable for me. The previous gym I frequented before my onset was extremely noisy. I wear earplugs whenever I head outside in the city now. If I’m somewhere (such as a park) that’s away from traffic noise or that I find to be palatable for my ears, I will usually take them off.

I’ve neglected the health of my ears for many years. I want to look after my hearing from now on.

My hyperacusis came on 1 month after my tinnitus worsening. Cumulative exposure to unsafe noise levels over the years was the likely cause for my ear problems. Using earbuds at maximum volume excessively the months prior to my tinnitus worsening was the final straw that broke the camel’s back I believe.

I recalled taking a course of steroids (methlyprednisolone) to treat my tinnitus initially. It did not help. Hyperacusis, dysacusis (distortions), and palinacousis came on soon after completing the taper.

I could not watch TV and/or listen to soft music at the time. I was too sensitive. I also had really bad dysacusis at the time too. TV/music was really distorted and difficult to comprehend if i tried. I avoided it entirely because I was bewildered and scared by it at the time.

I had to build up my tolerance through structured sound therapy to be more comfortable with TV again.

Not that I recalled. The source of my irritation and discomfort came from the tympanic membrane (eardrums). My eardrums would produce this spasm like sensation immediately when exposed to bothersome sounds.

 

How long did it take you to reach this state?

I know there are various opinions on this matter, but have you considered that this way your ears will not be completely desensitized? Are you ever planning to stop using earplugs when out in the city? There will be the inevitable loud exposure, how will you handle it?

 

Hello @ZFire, I’m so pleased for you x

I too started with hyperacusis when you did, and our journeys are so similar.

I also am in a much better place, I still have blips but I’m so much better. I’m working, driving, using kettle and crockery, going to supermarket etc.

I totally agree with you that gradual sound therapy really did help in my recovery desensitise x

I shall also share my recovery soon x

So very pleased for you.

Sending lots of hugs x

 

It took approx. 1 year.

I’ve considered it. The thing is, I live in a really objectively loud city. There’s so much loud impulse noise (cars constantly honking, ambulance, fire trucks passing, etc) that I have to put up with every time I head out. I might be able to tolerate these sounds (to an extent), but I see no reason why I should subject myself to it. Right now, I prefer to dampen these sounds using protection. Gives me a peace of mind (still have concerns about tinnitus spiking). It’s still a work in progress, but I want to look after my hearing in a reasonable manner now.

That’s fantastic. So glad to hear.

 

Hey @ZFire. I was wondering how you are now when it comes to listening to music? I had to listen to Party the other day. Only half of the song but it was enough.

 

Music is fine for the most part. I can listen to most genres at comfortable/moderate/reasonable levels very easily now. I’m still iffy with heavy metal/rock music (use of electric guitars makes me feel uneasy after a while) though.

My tastes/interests in music has changed a lot since acquiring tinnitus/hyperacusis. A lot of the stuff I use to listen before my tinnitus worsening don’t hit the same anymore. I think you know what I mean by this.

I’m more fond of classical music now. I listen to Mozart, Beethoven, Bach whenever I work out.

 

Spot on! I know exactly what you mean @ZFire.

But I've found out that it isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I've discovered a lot of new, interesting music. Life changes, time changes, and so do we.

I've listened to a lot of classical music the last 3 years, and today I can usually listen to pretty much what I feel like. As long as it's quality audio on quality speakers. Low (to medium for shorter duration) volume.

Rock music, as you mentioned, is often the most tricky genre though. Some frequencies can be bothersome at times. Depends...

 

@TeslaGuy -- You might find this tidbit interesting.

Hey @MindOverMatter, @ZFire -- I guess this would be in sort of a FWIW category. -- I ran across some information a few years ago about some spiritual masters who have missions that require a great longevity, reaching ages into the hundreds, even thousands of years. BTW, I have no problem with you being skeptical about that.

Anyway, it was explained in this "spiritual literature", that there were three keys to their longevity. 1) They carefully monitored what went into their mouth; and what came out of their mouth; 2) They carefully monitored what went into their eyes; and 3) they carefully monitored what they allowed into their ears! Ya think they listen to rock music? Lol.

 

Can you tell me what your sound therapy was?

 

Hello @UKBloke.

I've never asked you about your condition. Do you have bilateral tinnitus? What's your tinnitus like? Does the hyperacusis present you with pain, external sounds ramp up the tinnitus or the classic everyday sounds seem louder?

 

Hi Nick,

When I first started posting on this site (back in 2019 I think) my tinnitus had gone from "fully habituated, never give a toss "garden variety" (thank you @Markku for that apt description) to a shrill high pitched screech, audible every waking hour both indoors and outdoors. It was (and still is) bilateral but louder in the left ear than it is the right.

For the prior 25 years it had always presented as a stable sound, however, it now had a 'dynamic' quality to it; kind of changing tone, changing volume, like a whiplash; very difficult to ignore on account of it being so bloody capricious.

What I believe now (and what I wasn't aware of back then) is that this was the beginning of mild hyperacusis setting in and affecting, or aggravating, the tinnitus.

For the most part, I was able to mask and be relaxed enough with the situation reasonably well until circa June 2021. One day I was listening to some audio on the laptop when suddenly both of my ears fed-back like a microphone with the gain set too high. Unbelievably loud screams and REALLY un-nerving.

Although that screaming was transient, since then benign sounds, like a light on/off switch for example, can make me jump (even wince). Sometimes flushing the toilet can make the sound in my ears "feel" like a sensitive tooth if that makes any sense? What I've never experienced, however, is pain. My heart goes out to those who do.

Nowadays, the tinnitus absolutely will react to sounds. Sometimes, if I'm having a bad day, when I try and mask to get to sleep, the tinnitus will adjust and raise its volume to sit above the masking sound - almost like it's using the masking sound as an amplification source to modulate itself on top of. On days like that, masking is useless and I just have to face the tinnitus to get to sleep.

It's bewildering, not just because obviously it is bewildering, but because as much as I've tried to explain these phenomena to my audiologist(s) I've only ever been met with glazed stares. You know the drill.

That's my situation in a nutshell. How about you; how you getting on?

 

Thanks for that insight. I've followed you for a while and you seem to have good rational insight.

That detailed description gives me a good idea of what you experience and in some ways I can relate.

I experienced 'garden variety' tinnitus from May 2015. I was 40 at the time. I woke up after a night out to this low level hiss in my right ear. You know the score really, a bit bemused, googling to find out what it is etc. Forgot about it all day and realised it's still there the next night.

I thought it would probably go away and when it didn't after 2 weeks, I had 'habituated.'

Later that year I started feeling dizzy and off balance. My lifestyle was a bit wacky at the weekend (boozing, smoking excessively, recreational drugs and late nights) and I thought it was that.

I decided to go for a hearing test. Boots were doing freebies. The tinnitus didn't bother me at all but the dizziness did. I sat down to this new experience and the audiologist asked if my hearing was ok. I replied 'yes, absolutely fine.' At the end she pointed to my right ear and to my amazement I was reading 75 dB/80 dB/70 dB at 4 kHz, 6 kHz & 8 kHz respectively. I was bemused and unmoved, but it explained the low hiss I could only hear in a quite room.

I lived my life as normal. Years before I was a DJ, and now I preferred to be on the dance floor. Never worried about protecting my ears (have you ever seen someone in a bar in the UK wearing hearing protection?) and all was fine.

I did have slight dizzy balance problems but nothing until April 2021 changed in relation to the tinnitus. I started a job in the civil service and for the first time realised my tinnitus was now bilateral and seemed more shrill and less his. Mild-moderate, but in a sort of quiet, sound proofed, open office it really unravelled things and exposed that it seemed to be a little worse. I left after induction week as it bothered me in that environment.

For the rest of 2021 I never heard it again in my left ear. I realised then that a quiet room in a house is still louder than a sound proof office type place.

After much stress I moved house and area. The smoke alarms were super sensitive, going off 6 times a day for the first couple of months and I was busy moving in, working and getting used to the area. In December I wasn't sleeping well and would wake every few hours. I felt depressed and lonely but had joined the local gym. I started hearing the local band playing in the local pub from my house. The pub must be 500 yards away and thought to myself, God it must be loud in there.

Then followed a sore throat, and louder tinnitus in both ears. This was January 2022. Out of frustration I carried on as normal. Then it escalated again 10 days later. Sitting on a spin bike in the local gym waiting for a virtual class to start. All of a sudden the speakers came on and it sounded like a bomb had gone off in the room. I looked startled, turned to the girl on the next bike and said 'God that's loud!'.

2 days later... Ear pain to all electronic sounds, people speaking etc. AWFUL and terrifying. I had a GP phone appointment, who told to put the radio on and enjoy a sound enriched environment. I realised all sound ramped up the tinnitus, people sounded like they were shouting and the kettle sounded like a jet taking off, and well, you know the score. It's now unstable, sound reactive, BUT the pain has gone and the loudness hyperacusis has improved. Mornings are a shock, adjusting to waking up to this new level.

Judicious use of Clonazepam has been a life preserver.

 

It was a very slow gradual exposure using natural sounds in my home. Eventually, I made it a mission to take in as much sounds (mostly comforting ones) as I could in my own home. I structured it with time limits and kept increasing the listening duration incrementally.

I go over the specifics about my sound therapy here and here.

 

Congratulations @ZFire! You give me some hope as I’m hitting 2 years with worsening.

 

What do you attribute the increase of your tinnitus to, the hyperacusis or noise damage?

 

Both actually. I’m fairly certain now that noise damage brought about an increase to my tinnitus and led to the development of hyperacusis. I’m also pretty sure that hyperacusis further increased my tinnitus. There was a brief period of time where I definitely felt like I became far more susceptible to tinnitus spikes and increases pretty easily due to bad hyperacusis. I remember acquiring tones left and right and experiencing volume increases almost weekly from moderate noise exposure during this period. It was short lived fortunately and a lot of the tones have left for good, but I definitely took a beating... the volume increases never went down.

 

Great to hear @ZFire! I hope stories like this can give hope and encouragement to people like @Hardwell and @Travis Henry.

 

Mine seems to be getting worse, the additional tones I know are temporary but my right ear is fkd.

I'm okay with trading louder tinnitus for less hyperacusis tho.

 

I have been driving in the city without hearing protection lately to test my ears even further, cruising around 20-35 miles per hour. Happy to report that there have been no issues whatsoever in relation to hyperacusis or tinnitus. Another major accomplishment for me... Driving in the highway is a different matter however.

I was invited to eat at a restaurant this upcoming week. I think I’m going to give it a go, just to test my ears in that environment, see how I fare. Will be carrying ear protection as always.

Have to agree with this take as well.

When I reflect on the most challenging period of my hyperacusis, it triggers feelings akin to PTSD. The severity of my condition left me completely incapacitated and I was unable to carry out even the simplest tasks. What hyperacusis did to me was all so surreal. At least with tinnitus, you can still make moves even if you’re confined to the house, but that’s not the case with formidable hyperacusis, well in my case at least (as well as yours likely).

Although my tinnitus still remains a disgusting mess, I'm really grateful that my hyperacusis has seen great improvement. It's a huge sign of relief when looking back to how bad it really was. I’ll take any victories where I can.