My Hyperacusis Journal — Sound Therapy and CBT with Tracy Holcomb (Treble Health)

I decided to log my experience doing sound therapy and CBT with Tracy Holcomb from Treble Health. I informed her that I will be logging my progress. She is confident I will see success. I will try to be as unbiased as I can. Treatment will be incremental sound exposure to tolerant sounds while protecting ears when I can.

It's been a year since my onset, caused by COVID-19 vaccine/noise/Viagra - one of those. I have slowly adapted but I keep worsening every 2-3 months. I react to white noise pretty bad and don't get much sleep some days. 2-4 hours maybe 3-4 days a week.

I have 4-6 tones. In both ears moderate ringing, in right ear fluttering ping, in left ear grinding pulsatile squeaks/zaps/whatever you want to call it. When I'm spiked I get a bird chirp too. All fans make my left ear start buzzing, rain and driving spike right ear with louder ringing. Each day my hyperacusis starts off ok but the tolerance starts reducing as the day goes on (most times). I get pain but I believe it's from using hearing protection too much when outside.

Hope this journal can provide hope or direction for some.

 

Thank you for taking the time to do it and share it with us. I have had hyperacusis for well over a year. I consulted with Ben Thompson from Treble Health for six months and still use sound generators.

 

Best of luck to you, sir. I hope you’ll get something positive out of this.

 

@Wrfortiscue, will you use sound generators as well?

Treble Health seems to be a very good company.

You do not take any sleeping medication for your insomnia?

 

Yeah I’m thinking about it. They are pricey though at $2500. I only take Melatonin sometimes. I have sleep apnea too so my sleep sucks.

 

Thanks man! If not just for me hopefully I can shed some positive light on something a lot of severe folks hate here lol.

 

Awesome! Would you say it has helped any? I’ve heard from the group sessions how therapy is helping some folks but there are a few saying nothing is happening.

 

@Wrfortiscue, I think I am in for quite a long journey. I overprotected for a couple of years and I recently had quite bad noise exposure. I know Dr. Nagler once said he had no success for well over a year, then it all come together within a couple of weeks.

My first goal is to manage pink noise for all woken hours. I will try to mix high quality pink noise from good speakers for half a day and then use the sound generators for the rest of the day. Then my next goal is to stop all medications. I am on a very low dose of benzo and a high dose of SSRI. I cannot risk them messing with my natural healing process.

I do not mind wearing sound generators for the rest of my life as long as I see some progress. If I have some improvement within 12 months and good improvement within 24 months, I am perfectly happy.

For me, I am not 100% sure about the sound generators this time around, even though I had good success with them last time I used them 7 years ago. As I see it, I do not have too many alternatives. At least I am doing something. The nice thing about sound generators is that you do not have to trust in them, habituation is a natural process and they will work with your subconscious.

I used to be 110% productive, living a reasonable good life with tinnitus and reactive tinnitus. Now I can socialize with my family and work 2-4 hours a day. The rest of the day I have no energy left and just need to get through the day. I take a daily 1 hour walk.

Take care,
David

 

Sleep apnea newcomer plus Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (plus COVID-19 after effects)!

Good luck! I also wonder how effective Ben Thompson is. On YouTube it's always WNGs and other sound therapy - with great success stories.

 

I have worn them since July of 2021. I have never been certain about whether the volume has been set properly, but I have not noticed any improvement. Jeff Beck, the guitarist, used them and did not notice any improvement until 2.5 years. He did not have hyperacusis and was wearing them for tinnitus. The idea is not to mask the tinnitus. You want to set them just below the tinnitus, but I am already concerned about the lowest possible setting aggravating the hyperacusis and tinnitus. If I bring up the volume to just below the tinnitus in my bad ear, it would be far too loud. I did set them much louder one day, and the tinnitus seemed notably softer that night. It may have just been a fluke.

 

Thanks for that! It is a long journey and nothing is guaranteed but you are at least giving it a shot, like I am. I think the safe methodical approach you are doing is best imo. It’s good to be positive, albeit it’s not necessary for healing as I worsened being positive haha. Just keep logging what works and keep pushing forward!

 

I would say keep trying to see what works for you and log any changes. Let Ben know. He seems pretty open and welcomes feedback. He knows it’s not the be all end all for fixing tinnitus/hyperacusis but it’s the best method we have for now unfortunately. Wishing you the best recovery.

 

I found the counseling aspect of his treatment to be a disappointment.

 

That’s a bummer. Did you let him know that?

 

Thanks for sharing your journey. You are a good man.

 

@Athens, can you describe the counseling aspect in more detail and what disappointed you? I've been considering Treble Health but haven't pulled the trigger yet. There's also a group out in Colorado that does the same thing and, quite honestly, they seem to be a little more patient focused and less dollar focused than some of the other outfits.

 

He is a nice person, and I definitely think that he is legitimate. I have not complained about the counseling aspect of TRT. He also told me that he could not give me guidance relating to insomnia, and that I should discuss that issue with my medical providers. I then saw a YouTube video where he gave tips for sleeping with tinnitus. I am not certain why he could not have discussed that issue with me.

I just thought that he was far too passive after the first counseling session. He is very young so as he gets more experience with TRT, he might become more dynamic.

 

Yeah that’s not cool lol. I heard a group session video where Ben says those with true reactive tinnitus won’t benefit with sound therapy. I showed that to my audiologist and she didn’t agree with him. Kinda cool that they are not an echo chamber but experienced doctors who have worked with many patients and tried different methods. Not sure about Ben though but he’s the one I believe who started Treble Health.

 

If you mostly or fully recover from this hell hole, that’d be huge for anyone looking for guidance who’s suffering from this alignment. This thread could help a lot of people seeking answers on how to go about recovering for reactive tinnitus plus hyperacusis. I’m truly excited for you to track your journey with this professional. I hope the best for you man.

 

Thanks. Any improvement is a blessing. I may have to isolate my therapy as the laptop and PlayStation fan is spiking me while I'm listening to pink noise. Long way to go.

 

Who is your audiologist? How would Ben treat reactive tinnitus? I feel that mine is reactive, but some people believe that reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis are the same thing.

 

My audiologist is Tracy Holcomb. Yeah she said once the hyperacusis is treated then the reactivity should go away. I saw @MindOverMatter said the same thing. Among some others. The main issue with hyperacusis is noise events can cause worsening while protecting too much can also cause worsening. The balance needed is per individual and noise therapy as well. That’s my take at least.

 

Trying to find balance and deal with life is the hard part. Only if we could just pause time till we got better.

 

Hi there. Glad you are getting some help. Did your audiologist advise if you should be protecting to avoid having your reactive tinnitus flare up? Mine is pretty hard to avoid - all things kind of set off this chirp over sound in my left ear, mostly high frequency. My audiologist here in Colorado says I shouldn't be protecting at all for normal sounds.

 

I don’t need to pause time. I just need a path forward to recovery. I still find joy in between pain and torment lol. There are cracks.

 

So it’s kind of tricky. They do advise to protect but the goal is to ween off. So if you’re very reactive then I would start off very slow. Higher dB and light sounds and go from there. Basically over time reduce protection and increase exposure to sounds. True outside nature sounds are the best but next best thing is higher quality speakers.

 

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Although my condition seems to not be making any progress since I acquired it last year (in fact it’s worse), I can still confidentially say that I had some bright moments this past year. These give me hope for a better future.

I will be following your progress closely as your case and mine sound very similar. Keep fighting for a better tomorrow, @Wrfortiscue!

 

Do you have head noise too?

 

What is head noise? I have head noise but only if my blood pressure is high and I’m in a quiet room.

 

Define head noise...