Hyperacusis + Small Children — How to Handle?

Hey everyone. Any of you with Hyperacusis have small children? How do you deal?

My ears hurt everyday. I have tinnitus, pressure, an undulating hum/vibration, spasming muscles (tts/sm?) and decreased sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis?).

I have two young children at home and when they talk, laugh, or cry, it hurts my ears. It's not always straight up pain unless they yell, but even when they talk my ears clench up and feel odd. I have earmuffs I wear when they are yelling or screaming, but there is no way I can wear them every minute I'm at the house.

How should I handle this?

 

Wish I had the answer for you. I have 2 small children too and their yelling and screaming can be very painful
I tend to do a lot of walking away when they get too loud. Thankfully my orders is old enough to understand.

I also get the hum on bad days

 

@Amelia I'm sorry to hear that. How long have you had H? Has it gotten any worse because of the kids? I'm just wondering if I should be avoiding the hurtful sounds to let me ears "heal"? (H started a couple weeks ago).

Also, is the hum/vibration you hear more like a feeling? Mine is physical and makes the side of my head numb. I have it 24/7.

 

I have not myself suffered from hyperacusis, but see my comments here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/help-tinnitus-pressure-and-pain.6493/#post-79990

In relation to cold laser therapy, there is a member on here (@rainman) who did benefit from cold laser therapy in relation to hyperacusis and pressure in the ear if I remember correctly.

Needless to say, there are many people who are pro-habituation rather than pro-treatment (because the first "camp" would not know of any treatments). So on this kind of topic, you will find a difference of opinion, for sure...

 

Earplugs .. invest in good ones.. ear plugs are the only pratical solution untill u get ur ears get better. (This is my pov when it comes to kids in life with T and H)

 

I have a few different sets of earmuffs all over my house which I can grab at a moments notice. Its a tricky balancing act.

 

I have kids and H...though mine are older, 11 and 15. They still make noise and their voices hurt ( girls) again. I was better and hit a MAJOR setback for unknown reasons, now I am worse than before. I have earmuffs for loud sounds and just basic over the ear headphones that dampen other sounds. Basically you could just do what you're doing or wear muffs all the time around them....I wouldn't recommend that but to be honest no one has the right answer, just do what feels best for you..Most Audiologists agree overprotection increases sensitivity...and others have testified to that as well. It IS a fine balance and very, very difficult.

Right now my ears are killing me. It sucks! They started hurting after my daughter was playing in livingroom. I believe it's TTS that causes pain. I have had H a year..expect setbacks and I hope you get better!

 

Thanks! Yeah this is hard. So life changing and unfair! But we battle on.

 

And I sincerely hope YOU GET BETTER.

 

I have H, T and a three year old. Wearing the earmuffs is about the only thing you can do or walk away when they talk loud or scream. The H has gotten better so I can get away without wearing the muffs but I do still have no choice but to walk away sometimes. My guess is you kind of feel defenceless when it comes to sound which is how I still feel.

 

You can view this report that was on abc: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/quest-silence-living-wth-hyperacusis/story?id=22284805

There is a guy in the second segment that has H, he has kids. The first couple in my opinion are shown as a little nutty although the H can make you crazy.

 

Yep, defenseless just about covers it. How did your H get better?

 

Ha that's funny. I have actually spoken to Joyce. She was helpful on getting the "worst case scenario" when it came to H. She is very nice.

 

I would not say better per se, I would say that I simply tolerate it and expect the sound. Whereas before I would become more startled and immediately put on earmuffs. My wide and I have tried to explain to her that it hurts my/daddys ears when she is too loud. So she seems more willing as time goes on to try and not be as loud but she is a kid and kids like to get loud. But some things I have had to avoid doing. I had to miss most of my daughters birthday which she had at a gymboree. There was to many kids for me to handle the sound. I had to walk out of her ballet class recital because even with wearing ear plugs its was just too loud. Not sure how old your children are but the younger they are the harder I think it is to deal with.

 

She is in NYC. I used to love to going into the city. I don't go anymore because of all the noise. I think I would have to move if I lived there. Not sure how they do it.

 

I see. How long have you had it? My kids are 3.5 and 1.5 so yeah it's hard.

 

I've had it since last nov. I was exposed to a built in siren in a alarm keypad that went off. Apparently the manufacturer put the siren into the keypad itself in lieu of having a separate siren. My daughter is almost 4.

 

Hi Mike34---I have to kids (9 and 7) and I'm always worried whether they'll scream or laugh really hard while playing with them. Fortunately, they are old enough to know that dad has something wrong with his ears and sometimes they hurt when they get too loud. Although they are usually careful, they are still kids and as with other kids, can be loud--very loud, especially when friends are over. I wear my ear muffs which cancel their noise, but unfortunately magnifies the loud high pitch EEE I have in my ears. I too aslo have that hum/vibrating sound in my ears (mostly left). It's not the greatest answer (carrying my ear muffs) around the house, but it's the only answer I have and the last thing I want to tell my kids is to keep quiet all the time since it's not fair for them. I wish you and others lots of luck.

 

hi Mike34,

I started with the same symptoms as you and in addition vertigo. Using a TENS machine was the only thing which provided temporary relief.

I also had all my dental work done and went to physiotherapy. The good news is that at least Hyperacusis and the face pain got better. The weird sensations which you described are often still there, but much less strong than at the beginning. It took nearly 5 months to reach this point though. A time where no doctor would be of any help at all.

I had no idea if I could ever play with my kids normally again. Playing for one hour would knock me out for the rest of the day. But luckily things aren't that bad anymore and my life is liveable now.