Hyperacusis Spike After Loud Buzzer Goig Off Next to My Ear But Tinnitus Lowered

Hey everyone! The weirdest thing happened a couple hours ago which I can't seem to find any logic in whatsoever. I was at my girlfriends place, waiting for her to come home. I was walking through the hallway, when all of a sudden the doorbell went off when i was maybe 0,5m from the sound source. It must have been 130+ decibels where i stood. (Shocked that these things are even allowed)

I usually handle sudden loud sounds pretty easily since my H is pretty mild most of the time, but this felt just like a gunshot next to my ear. I put my fingers in my ears by reflex and heard my T at normal level which was a relief. But afterwards my earpain continued in both ears, and here's the weird part. My T has started to lower itself in volume rapidly over the last couple of hours. Right now I'm sitting in a pretty much dead silent room, and i really can't hear it unless i reaaaally focus on it for a good while.

But on the other hand, my H is worse than it has ever been. I can't handle my girlfriend talking to me at a normal level without feeling a lot of discomfort and ear fullness. Heck, I can barely handle the sound of me typing on the computer keyboard writing this post.

Has anyone ever had an experience similar to this? I'd rather take my old T and H than close to no T and amplified H any time of the week. Because what I'm experiencing now is worse than all my previous spikes by far, although my tmj is having a good day and my T is so silent i can barely hear it even if I try.

Any sort of ideas/help would be greatly appreciated. //Adin

 

sorry might be a dumb question.. whats the difference from T to H?

 

T is tinnitus while H is short for hyperacusis. Or in other words, sensitivity to certain frequencies and decibel levels that normal hearing people don't react to. The loudness discomfort level (LDL) for a person without hyperacusis is usally between 100-120db give or take 10db, I don't have the exact statistics. While a person with hyperacusis can experience discomfort starting at everything from 85db to something as low as 50db depending on how bad it is.

 

Ohh okay.. like what kind of discomfort.. like spark high pitch feedback noise ( kinda like when speaker gets that bad feedback

 

Usually ear pain (at least for me). Imagine the kind of discomfort you feel when you accidentally turn up your headphones to max volume, but from "normal level sounds". However, this doesn't account for all sufferers. There are people experiencing a wide range of symptoms due to hyperacusis. Some of these are ear fullness, hot sensation in inner/middle ear and ear spasms. It's a complex condition that is (at least from my experience) worse than T itself because it is much more dificult to get used to pain and discomfort than a constant sound. But my T is only moderate at worst, so I can't speak for the people who experience T that is worse than mine.

 

I think you should take some Prednisone ASAP and go check your hearing

 

I don't know if it's hyperacusis or not but while I have hearing loss, I also find certain volumes that seem normal for most people are just way too loud for me. The most common example I've used here is my boyfriend watching the hockey game. I immediately can't focus on anything because of the volume. I don't get pain in my ears just an immediate "that's too loud" feeling.

 

That would be a form of misophonia rather than hyperaccusis. But it's a good misophonia if it makes you leave the room or get the volume turned down.

 

Well, probably you are going through a temporary situation with your hearing trying to get stable again, and playing up in the meantime, that's why you perceive sounds and T in a different way. Loud noise is not good if you have hearing problems, specially H. My advice is give your ears a rest for a good couple of weeks, eat healthy, try to do exercise. I do not want to speculate about outcomes of your H or T when your hearing eventually settles down, but what you are describing has happened to me only 2 or 3 times and in the long run things have not gotten better (rather the opposite). H is quite an individual thing, as this is not a disease but a symptom caused by something else, so my experience cannot probably apply to someone else's case.

 

While H is worse in terms of symptoms, it's also a lot more forgiving in terms of improving the symptoms.
I didn't exactly have H but I suffered sound sensitivity for a while , with car breaks making me almost jump sometimes .

I'm thankful to say it's gotten a lot better but I'm always on alert from things like sirens and loud trains .

I think despite this door bell being a possible 130 dB time will heal .

T is usually the tougher one to get rid of .