I'm Aaron, Manageable Tinnitus, New to Hyperacusis

Hi everyone,

A bit long so TL;DR at bottom.

I'm a 36-year-old male in California and have been on this forum about a month since the onset of my hyperacusis. I have history of loud noise exposure from 4 years of marching band in high school and going to a firing ranges a couple times (with ear protection). Other than that, I try to avoid loud places such as clubs and concerts because I've always disliked loud noises and tried to protect my ears. I've had tinnitus for a least 10 years now after an earwax irrigation procedure, though it's been slowly worsening over time. It's still manageable, but I had a big spike about 1.5 years ago which had me worried and took a few weeks to acclimate. But the main reason I sought help online was sudden hearing loss, which likely led to my hyperacusis.

How it started
Around the end of May 2022, I just woke up one morning and noticed car noises in my left ear were really loud. I thought I accidentally left my window open and the sounds were bouncing off the wall directly into my ear, but my windows were closed. I thought it may have been impacted earwax since that's been a regular occurrence in the past several years so I tried to wash my ears out but nothing came out; I may have been a little over-zealous in trying to get something out. A couple days later I noticed my right ear started to feel slightly muffled, so I started getting worried and went to the doctor.

On June 3, I saw a primary care doc who looked in my ears. I was ready to just get my ears flushed, but to my dismay he said my ears were clear and everything looks normal. So he told me the symptoms sound like Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) and described the treatment of oral Prednisone that needs to be taken within 2-4 weeks of onset or it could be permanent. I then went to an Audiologist to get a hearing test which confirmed hearing loss in my right ear. So I began a course of tapering oral prednisone. I followed up with an ENT the next day since I noticed my right ear's sounds felt distorted, or I was kind of hearing "double" like a tiny radio was simultaneously playing in my ear. I couldn't listen to any noise without a some discomfort. Just running the faucet lightly was uncomfortable. The ENT said there wasn't much she could do but for me to finish my prednisone and take another hearing test (which was about 4 weeks out).

My first setback
For about a week, I tried to live life like normal. Sounds were a bit uncomfortable and created a slight pressure feeling in my ears, but I didn't know about hyperacusis and thought maybe my ears were just recovering and Prednisone was doing its thing. About 5 days go by and my tolerance becomes better to the point that taking a shower wasn't uncomfortable and I was able to go grocery shopping without the music feeling annoying. So I thought I was well enough to hang out at a friend's place. Nothing particularly loud except for an A/C and fan in the background for a few hours. We watched some TV, chatted, played some games. There were moments that I felt slight discomfort but nothing painful. But when I got home, it sounded like my right ear was just full of tv static. I don't know how I managed to fall asleep, but I did. The next morning I heard the noises in my left ear again, but didn't think too much about it. But when I turned on my macbook to start work, the "donggggg" chime almost put me out of commission, and that's when I realized things weren't normal. It made me breakdown a bit as I realized my condition didn't improve. I started looking for support online and found this amazing community.

Over the next few weeks I avoided loud noises and didn't go out much, but I still had 3 more setbacks. Once from leaving my window open and waking up a loud leafblower, 2nd time when I accidentally dropped a soap holder in the shower, and 3rd when I took my hearing test and a Loudness Discomfort Level (LDL) test to confirm my hearing sensitivity and for my doctors see that I really do have hyperacusis. I couldn't go beyond 5 days of recovery and I was quite frustrated and upset with myself. A few days after setbacks I always start having a low vibration noise that I could also feel in my right ear. It always starts out as an intermittent rumble like an engine is idling, and then becomes a constant buzz/vibration. I think it may be low frequency tinnitus but am not sure.

Post-prednisone
The second hearing test showed some improvement in my hearing, but I still had a large 20 dB dip around the 250 Hz range, which the ENT believes could also be the source of my hyperacusis. So she suggested we could try Intratympanic Injections which consists of 3 injections of Dexamethasone a week apart from each other directly through the eardrum to see if we can recover the remaining hearing loss, which may help with my hyperacusis. Though the chances are quite low since it's already been 4 weeks since onset of SSHL, I wanted to give it a shot since I didn't have much choice left. I just had my 2nd injection, but don't think there has been any improvement since my first and my ear buzzing is still present.

Keeping my eyes forward
I've been taking things pretty cautiously. I don't wear ear protection because I heard how that can be counterproductive to improving hyperacusis and it's been a little more than a week since my last setback (my longest ever, woohoo!). I'm still pretty bummed at how this has affected my social life; I haven't physically seen my friends in a month. Traveling and dating is currently out of the question. But I'm seeing a little improvement each day. When I first started this journey of hyperacusis, a lot of research lead to negative thoughts and felt a bit scary. But the more I dug, the more I was able to find the success stories and to give me hope. There are a few videos I found particularly helpful which I'll put at the bottom for inspiration.

I consider myself fortunate, as my hearing loss is only in my right ear at about 20 dB around 150–250 Hz. I am still considered in the normal hearing range. My hyperacusis is also relatively mild with LDL between 65 dB–85 dB.

TL;DR:
I got SSHL about a month ago in my right ear which likely triggered hyperacusis in both ears. Also developed a low-frequency vibration in my ear which may or may not be tinnitus. Oral medication did not fully recover my hearing loss and hyperacusis is still around. Trying a last-ditch effort with Intratympanic Dexamethasone injections to recover my remaining hearing loss but so far have not noticed any improvement.

Some inspirational hyperacusis success stories:

My story with Tinnitus & Hyperacusis:...

My hyperacusis story.

https://hyperacusisfocus.org/hope/

I also find Ben Thompson, AuD, videos on YouTube to be helpful in keeping a positive mindset of tinnitus and hyperacusis. I may consider contacting them if I can't get help through Kaiser. I believe there's someone in this forum that's actually working with them for their tinnitus.

 

Hi there @CrazyBison, just wanted to say welcome to the forum. I'm not sure whether the low-frequency vibration you're experiencing is tinnitus, but it sounds like it is to me. It sounds like you had more than your fair share of setbacks, but I'm glad to hear that your hyperacusis is mild. Despite what you've been going through, you appear to have a positive mindset, which I think is a big plus. I hope your Intratympanic Dexamethasone injections go well.

 

Hello @CrazyBison,

I also experienced a very low rumble type of tinnitus when I worsened last year. My main concern was hyperacusis though. The low rumble tinnitus eventually faded away for me and today I only have a very mild high-pitch tinnitus.

Also welcome to Tinnitus Talk! This forum has a lot of information/stories about the conditions we have!

And as Joe Cuber said, keep that positive mindset, it really helps!