Is Hyperacusis Psychological?

Is it? If so is there a way to turn it off or help your brain calm down and lessen the discomfort?

 

No.

 

I think it's a combination of the two... Physical sensitivity to noise, as well as an emotional response to perceived damage, regardless of whether or not the noise is actually damaging. You could try to slowly desensitize yourself to the noises that bother you. Start slowly though and ease yourself into it, I recently made the mistake of exposing myself to too much noise during the holidays and I had a negative reaction (spike and ear pain/fullness).

 

I have the same reaction going on. My H spiked a s*** ton. But I didn't get discomfort from the sound during the holidays which is the problem. I'm just trying to sooth everything down. But not only that I'm going through some emotional problems due to some other stuff so. So I'm just trying so hard to calm down and relax my body.

 

I've read that pink noise helps a lot...Downloaded an app with a number of different background noises (pink being on of them) a few weeks ago, I will say that it feels really good to listen to, blocks out the T a bit and relaxes me a little too. I haven't used it long enough to report on the effects it has on H though.

 

Do let me know your progress. How much have you recovered from your setback. This is a bad major setback I've got here.

 

I'll let you know... Mines pretty bad too, I was doing so well and then bam, got pushed right back.

 

My ent specialist said that the brain learns to adjust and turn the volume up if it knows it should be hearing a noise louder than it actually is, for example if you had ear plugs in while someone was talking, the brain knows it should be louder and so the internal volume goes up, also there are nerves in the ears that respond to stimulus, and if they don't hear noises around normal to a little louder sounds they can get hyper sensitive, like having a arm in a cast for too long, it doesn't damage the arm to move it but it will hurt. Same with the ears, which is how i got hyperacustics, from wearing ear plugs all the time, there is a training course where they slowly turn the volume up on different treatments to retrain your brain what is normal sounds, i tried something similar but just not using ear plugs, but i ended up doing too much at once and not knowing my limits.

the physical sensation became a phycological condition in my case, and prolonged by the painful momory and emotion reaction to the source of the loud sound.

The end result being not fully healed yet from hyperacustics after 4 years. I didn't have any help though until recently.

 

No. It's physiological. There are fibers within the cochlea which resemble pain fibers located elsewhere in the body. Jaime García-Añoveros worked with strains of deaf rats. He discovered that intense noise activated these fibers. Experiments at Johns Hopkins University showed that there are sensory cells within the cochlea that release a chemical when exposed to loud noise. This chemical activates the pain fibers. Hyperacusis develops when these pain fibers fail to shut off and instead remain permanently activated.

Hyperacusis is a very difficult condition to treat and you've got to take it slowly. I agree with @Seawater7, be careful about using ear plugs too much so you don't hypersensitize your ears to regular environmental sounds.

 

Thank you guys. I've been having a rough patch. Hyperacusis is such a strange symptom or disorder whatever you may call it. It gets better and worse and I have been good at regulating my anxiety but I am going to look into meditation and things of such to just calm down my nervous system.

@Cheza Do send me some info or a link on this experiment.

 

I believe so. I've had some experience where I had some psychological problems and then the hyperacusis were gone about 30 percent. I was able to go out without the help of the earplugs and that slasted for about 4 months.
Willingness to hear plays a vital role in treating the symptom.. Not that I'm saying you should tolerate the sound but the overall state of mind about accepting all.

 

Here's the article where I got the info, "When even soft noises feel like a knife to the eardrums." You also might want to take a look at hyperacusisresearch.org. It looks like it's got a lot of helpful info.

I have very mild hyperacusis, have to plug my ears when the microwave beeps, high-pitched barking makes my ears hurt and that sort of thing, but it's nothing compared to how others suffer. So in that respect, I've been lucky, because a lot of people with hyperacusis say it's harder to deal with than tinnitus.

 

I think mostly no. As I mentioned before, I think I had H for the first few weeks and took the advice not to overprotect my ears. I think it has helped because my ears do not physically respond to noise anymore. My T still reacts with spikes but I'm not sure if it's reactive T or just a leftover symptom of mild H. If some consider this H, then I guess it could be considered psychological since anxiety can play a role in severity of symptoms. Hope this made sense!

 

Hypercusis ugh. This is such a battle. The little crinkle of potatoe chip bags gets me now or like the squeezing of a water bottle, or a piece of silverware dropping in the sink.... Just ridiculous. I had an idiot on the road the other day drive by me, I had my window down for a little background noise and this guy has one of those train horns on his car. Damn things should be illegal. I will say that cbd oil has not done much for my anxiety or T but it really does seem to help with the H. Hang in there people. Cant let this crap win. Happy Holidays.

 

Tell me more about CBD oil.

 

It is legal. Basically hemp oil without the THC. Its being used for a myriad of conditions from epilepsy to ms and everything in between. Not cheap but I can't put a price on my sanity. Its available in many health food stores to smoke shops and online. If you do a search for it there are a few posts on it that into more detail.

 

How has it helped your H though?

 

I dont cringe or get a spike when I hear something loud. Just not as sensitive to noise. Which is a blessing considering my own voice annoys me sometimes. I noticed you are in Orlando. There is a meet up group for t peep somewhere over there. Never been and I can't remember where it is but I know it exists.

 

@Willpowered Haha now I see you are in Florida too. Have you looked into https://www.earsinus.com/inventions-procedures I have been reading up on this today.

 

Whoa looks terrifying. I guess you get to a point and people will try anything for some relief. I hope they have some success with the procedures. I read the article posted by @Cheza that poor guy having to watch life through a window. I have had days where I would actually consider giving my right arm for a return to silence, then perish the thought...maybe a couple of toes though.

 

@Willpowered T sucks but I think H sucks more in my case. :/

 

@Willpowered have others gotten relief from CBD oil?

 

Thats a good question. I was reading a post like 8 miles long and never found out. A bunch of people were talking about trying it but never saw the results or if they ever did. Im going to track that post down and see. I know that it has helped my H.

 

@Willpowered was it a temporary relief or over all

 

Temp. Maybe 5-6 hours. But it can be maintained with more oil and I think it builds up in your system.

 

No. For most people, it's actually the opposite. They initially have mild hyperacusis and go into denial, telling themselves that it's anxiety or something. Then it gets unmistakably worse. In my case, it was caused by an autoimmune disease. Anti-anxiety medication actually makes my condition worse.

 

As someone that has 99.9% recovered from hyperacusis I can say without a doubt it is NOT just psychological.

 

No. It's a physical illness. It's the hearing system's response to damage, in order to protect itself from further damage. Like how a hand feels hot if you put it in a fire. The reaction in both cases is to withdraw to safety.

As you grow to understand your body's responses, and how to help keep yourself safe and give yourself a chance to heal, then your anxiety can reduce. It's when you don't see the healing you hope for, or when you can't avoid noisy situations, that anxiety levels can remain high and need to be treated as a separate issue.

 

No, hyperacusis is not psychological.