Hyperacusis is the mystery box that we still seem to be working out how to open. We neither know what causes hyperacusis nor can we establish causal links like we can with tinnitus. However, what we do know is that treating ear conditions will probably have a reasonable effect on resolving hyperacusis. This is because most people who have hyperacusis also have ear related problems like damaged synapses and hair cells. Therefore using logic we can deduce that if issues like broken synapses and hair cells are theoretically what led to the hyperacusis, then repairing the damage should theoretically make the hyperacusis go away.
Furthermore, it should be noted that hyperacusis is yet to show the same response that tinnitus has to the presently available treatment options such as hearing aids. Therefore, the fact that hyperacusis does not react to the current treatment options tells us three important facts about hyperacusis:
1. The reason we cannot determine the cause or causes of hyperacusis is because hyperacusis does not respond to currently available treatment options like a hearing aid in the same way tinnitus does. This is because we cannot establish a causal link for hyperacusis (like broken synapses), whereas with tinnitus we can establish that a causal link is the reduced auditory input through hair cells.
2. Hyperacusis probably will need to be treated anatomically to resolve the issues associated with it because it doesn't respond to current treatment options like hearing aids.
3. Hyperacusis is very likely caused by multiple conditions together such as hair cell damage, synapse damage and an inflamed cochlear(s) or any combination of these conditions. This is because most people who are found to have hyperacusis tend to present with symptoms of both hair cell and synapse damage. Furthermore, there are indications that an inflamed cochlear is likely to be a symptom of hyperacusis. Also treating the issues related to hyperacusis with available treatments like hearing aids is ineffective. Therefore once again, until we have a medicine treatment for these conditions, we won't know what is causing the hyperacusis and won't be able to pinpoint how to treat it because we cannot play around with the medicine and cannot trial treat to see what may help.
Therefore, while we do not have any specific information that enables us to determine and identify what will treat hyperacusis at present, I am fairly confident that the medicines are getting developed will assist with this because they will treat the appropriate areas.
If I was going to suggest which ear medicine would assist with hyperacusis treatment, I would probably suggest all of them because hyperacusis isn't necessarily caused by just one issue.
However, what I think would be a better question for you to ask and for me to answer would be what areas would I try and treat first to try to hopefully work out what is causing hyperacusis and what could also treat hyperacusis
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The answer is trying inflammation and synapse medicines first. The reason that I would focus on synapse damage and cochlear inflammation first is because I have understood that a common trait of people who have got hyperacusis seems to be exposure to loud noise(s).
Thus as both synapse damage and also cochlear inflammation are caused by a single and also repeated subjection to loud noise, it would seem somewhat logical that this could therefore result in hyperacusis.
The reason I suggest treating synapses first is based off of what we we know, the role of synapses is to allow somebody to regulate the sound(s) around them to hear the noise they want to hear. This includes things like being able to block out sounds around them at night to hear an animal such as an owl or to block out the ambient noises in a place like a cafe so they can hear someone speak.
Interestingly from what we know about those with hyperacusis, two common complaints are:
- that they often usually have issues with being able to filter out the sound that they want to hear in a noisy place like a cafe.
and
- they also have issues with this ambient noise being not just overpowering but also intolerable and irritating.
Therefore based off of the reading and investigating that I have done, my contention is that the role of the synapses is to regulate the volume of sounds around oneself and also to allow oneself to filter these out. Damaged synapses simply mean someone has a reduced ability to do this.
However, what I think damaged synapses also do is cause sounds around someone to seem artificially louder and overpowering because they are unable to get rid of or ignore/regulate the irrelevant noise(s). This means that a person do not have the subconscious capability to simply block out sounds like a coffee machine or plates dropping in a cafe as they did previously when they had functioning synapses. This therefore means that these noises seem artificially louder.
Thus the thinking that the sounds are louder is actually somewhat false, it is actually just the busted synapses not being able to regulate the sound as effectively like they would if they were functioning normally.
Therefore I think that restoring synapses should quite likely have a positive effect on those who have hyperacusis, as an appropriate number of synapses will enable people to actually regulate sounds again.
I also believe that treating cochlear inflammation is necessary in people with hyperacusis because those with hyperacusis often have had repeat exposure to loud noise(s). This in turn is likely to inflame the cochlea.
This ear inflammation happens in exactly the same way as when people have chafing on their thighs for example. The constant rubbing causes the skin on the thighs to get irritated and thus they end up with the skin getting contusions and becoming inflamed as well. Thus this skin inflammation needs to be treated in order to eliminate the various problems caused by the inflammation and allow the skin to return to a normal state without issues like pain.
Hence the same scenario is likely to play out in the ear. The ear gets inflamed after exposure to loud noise(s) repeatedly and subsequently results in the cochlea becoming irritated and inflamed. While the cochlea remains inflamed, things like the irritation and pain associated with certain sounds hitting the ear will remain. Thus the ear won't return to a normal state until this inflammation is treated.
Furthermore, the inflammation is possibly going to cause sounds to seem distorted too, because the cochlear is not going to be working properly and normally while it is inflamed, much the same why your thigh skin remains red and painful while it is inflamed. Therefore I feel that the inflamed nature of the cochlea is actually also something which might cause sounds to be distorted because while it is inflamed it is unable to pick up sounds in a normal manner.
Thus I believe that by treating the cochlear inflammation, you will overcome the issues associated with this like the pain in the ear when hearing certain noises as this inflammation is no different to the problems associated with inflammation in other areas of the body such as skin on the thighs. Thus I think this will be a very prudent area to treat and also understand when ear inflammation medicine is available.
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