So I got tinnitus about two and a half years ago. I had habituated pretty successfully last September -- I am an academic, and I was able to read and work in silent rooms with my tinnitus, which at first was a very loud distressing constant hissing. I even had more tones like crickets and a light pure tone that was easy to ignore.
However, around last October, I woke up in the middle of the night to the dreaded electrical storm/kettle/whatever noise that seems to react to any sounds I'm around. At first it terrified me -- it was a noise that constantly changed, like eeEEEeEEEEe instead of the constant hiss that I was used to. But now as I'm finding it more and more difficult to cope with this, I'm wondering if my new issue is actually hyperacusis? I don't have the classic ear "pain" in the traditional sense -- it's more of a piercing pain when I'm exposed to certain frequencies which definitely exacerbate the new tinnitus. I read that some people on the forum call this reactive tinnitus... but is this just hyperacusis? And if so, isn't hyperacusis more treatable than tinnitus? This seems to be a worse problem for me than T.... I'm constantly measuring it in relation to other sounds in my environment, whereas with my previous T, I knew it was a constant and what masked it made sense in terms of volume. Before, being in a cafe was the only way I could work because it masked my (almost unmaskable) T; however, now I find in loud environments I get a painful screeching sensation in my left ear.
Is this hyperacusis rather than T? Is it due to a heightened awareness of T in the first place? It's truly miserable -- even with the newer, shriller, more variable sound, I found relief in loud cafes. Now I can't go anywhere without feeling this reactive T, or maybe H, ruining everything.
However, around last October, I woke up in the middle of the night to the dreaded electrical storm/kettle/whatever noise that seems to react to any sounds I'm around. At first it terrified me -- it was a noise that constantly changed, like eeEEEeEEEEe instead of the constant hiss that I was used to. But now as I'm finding it more and more difficult to cope with this, I'm wondering if my new issue is actually hyperacusis? I don't have the classic ear "pain" in the traditional sense -- it's more of a piercing pain when I'm exposed to certain frequencies which definitely exacerbate the new tinnitus. I read that some people on the forum call this reactive tinnitus... but is this just hyperacusis? And if so, isn't hyperacusis more treatable than tinnitus? This seems to be a worse problem for me than T.... I'm constantly measuring it in relation to other sounds in my environment, whereas with my previous T, I knew it was a constant and what masked it made sense in terms of volume. Before, being in a cafe was the only way I could work because it masked my (almost unmaskable) T; however, now I find in loud environments I get a painful screeching sensation in my left ear.
Is this hyperacusis rather than T? Is it due to a heightened awareness of T in the first place? It's truly miserable -- even with the newer, shriller, more variable sound, I found relief in loud cafes. Now I can't go anywhere without feeling this reactive T, or maybe H, ruining everything.
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