Internal Head Sounds Becoming Louder — Typical of Hyperacusis?

I don't know if this is normal or not but it is slowly getting worse and driving me mad.

I have hyperacusis whereby plates, typing on keyboard, cutlery, tin foil, or paper being rustled all catch my ear and cause a sharp discomfort. I also seem to get a burning pain late in the evening if I expose my ears to too much sound.

However, I have found that I am now hearing my internal mouth/jaw sounds much louder than ever before; e.g swallowing water (especially cold drinks) makes a 'crunch' sound in the ears (ET opening and closing most likely) alongside more little pops and cracks that sound like they are happening right next to the eardrum. Talking or blowing air through the mouth also makes this click sound in the ear. It sounds like a very quick 'Tk Tk' sound that happens after a almost every word is spoken. I can also hear other muscular sounds too at the back of the mouth just at a much higher volume.

I think all these sounds are 'normal' it is just my auditory system seems to be much higher now and is picking them up and amplifying them on overdrive. When resting, my hearing now sounds more like a speaker amplifier that has its power on but is not playing anything - like an 'on' sensation. I am also hearing way too many more noises in the flat that I never heard before like plug sockets humming. However it was never this bad a few months ago. Is this normal? My understanding is that external sounds coming in was the main symptom of hyperacusis, not hearing all the internal bodily sounds louder.

Anyone had this happen and had any success in reducing it? Is there a trapped nerve somewhere or something?

I am thinking of getting some scans done to try and investigate further - MRA or CT scan just to rule out any possible nerve issue or blood flow. My MRI came back fine. Hearing Test was near perfect and Tympanometry was all ok.

Cheers

 

QUOTE="musicblue, post: 553004, member: 42181"]


I think all these sounds are 'normal' it is just my auditory system seems to be much higher now and is picking them up and amplifying them on overdrive. When resting, my hearing now sounds more like a speaker amplifier that has its power on but is not playing anything - like an 'on' sensation. I am also hearing way too many more noises in the flat that I never heard before like plug sockets humming. However it was never this bad a few months ago. Is this normal? My understanding is that external sounds coming in was the main symptom of hyperacusis, not hearing all the internal bodily sounds louder.

I am thinking of getting some scans done to try and investigate further - MRA or CT scan just to rule out any possible nerve issue or blood flow. My MRI came back fine. Hearing Test was near perfect and Tympanometry was all ok.

Cheers[/QUOTE]
I have the something similar (i.e. at one point I could "hear" a table lamp when it was turned on) and I'm pretty convinced hypervigilance (and related anxiety) is playing a leading part in whatever is happening. I feel like if I could break the cycle somehow, and just let my auditory system get sorted without my conscious brain over analyzing every last distortion, I'd be much further along. I have hearing loss in the bad ear, so it may take some time.

 

Getting an MRA or MRI with hyperacusis is one of the dumbest things you can do.

 

I was lucky with my MRI. It was a super modern machine that took 3 mins and was very quiet.

A CT scan I believe is quiet too.

 

Do know the name of the MRI machine? I thought MRIs of the ear AND brain took much longer? My doctors and family are holding me to get one but I’m terrified.

 

I think it was a Phillips one but don't quote me on that.

 

It's natural to pay attention to these things if you already pay a lot of attention to your ears and their health because of tinnitus or hyperacusis.

After developing a new terrifying humming sound, I am now hyper aware of other low bass freq sounds that were always there but that I had no reason to notice before. Low bass sounds are found absoutely everywhere, it turns out.

Just a thought. It's something that is evident from reading posts on this forum I think. Like how many people with tinnitus starts freaking out over normal things like floaters, blue field entoptic phenomena and so on. One you have the feeling something is fundamentally wrong with the way your central nervous system processes reality, these previously unnoticed things can become terrifying.

 

It would be awesome if you could get the full model of the MRI machine you used... it is a very dangerous test for people with hyperacusis and we are always commenting on new MRI machines, models, decibel measurements, on the forums. It could help a lot of people!