Noise-Induced Hyperacusis and "Reactive" / Sound-Sensitive Tinnitus 80% Gone

How are you doing @tbuzz89? You lived in NYC? I’m from CT. I love the city

 

I can’t hang out with a bunch of people in a room. It kills my ears. It’s so horrible. I feel like everything about this is becoming very reactive. I just listened to a song and I feel like my ears are shaking!

i don’t know what to do because I feel like the less noise I’m around my tinnitus is better but what about the sensitivity? I can’t even think about holidays and not being able to spend time with my family because of this.

The first few times I was around a bunch of people in a small room, their voices just seemed loud and I was cringing. I had dinner with my 2 aunts and cousin a few weeks ago - their voices hurt my ears, I didn’t say anything. I had to leave.

yesterday hung out with some girlfriends and had my ear plugs in. Even had a few drinks and my ears have been pretty mellow all day, but I haven’t been exposed to much.

I don’t know what to do
I want the tinnitus to go away but I don’t want to flare up the sensitive. I work in an open office. Phones, speakers, doors, music, voices. Idk if I should do ear plugs all day, I think it would be best for my ears so they don’t get aggravated but how do I become sensitized to every day sound again?

@Michael Leigh
@aot @Greg Sacramento

 

Hey @Tara Lyons, today has been a fairly good day. I can still hear my T over everything but it seems softer and I'm starting to mentally handle it a bit better. Thanks for asking, how are you doing??

I technically still live in NYC and have an apartment downtown, but keep extending my time away due to COVID. My parent's moved to VA a couple of years ago from New York and I've been here since January due to some life events which I described in my introduction post.

I love CT! Have some friends with a place in Rowayton right on the water and summers there are amazing.

 

Hi there glad you’re feeling better. I had a good day as well actually, mentally trying to be a bit stronger and trying to realize im not the first person going through this, And it will take time, but definitely missing my old life. I just don’t feel like myself since this started. I don’t know if I ever will again.

Downtown? Greenwich Village area? My favorite part of Manhattan!

 

@Tara Lyons I completely understand that feeling. It's difficult to accept but realize this is going to be a huge journey of mind over matter.

All the way downtown right in South Street Seaport. But I agree, the West Village is my favorite all-time neighborhood!

 

I know, all I can do is let this run its course I guess. I don’t know. Can’t do much else...

Ever go to Employees Only? On Hudson? One of my favorite bars, pretty loud so doubt I’ll ever be going there again when this settles, or without ear plugs!

 

YES! Also one of my favorite places. I love the Art Deco atmosphere. Spent many Thursday nights there after work over the years followed by some of the best Mexican at Ofrenda a couple of blocks east on 7th Ave.

Memories like this make me sad because like you said above, I feel like with T I'll never be able to go back to EO, all of the W Village jazz clubs, speakeasies, etc. for fear of making this beast even worse. I also stopped drinking after New Years -- it just feels like my old life is gone.

 

@Michael Leigh

Hello, Michael!
I have a little question. I am 7 months in with my hyperacusis and tinnitus. I believe that H is almost gone (I still have noise sensitivity with mild pain in my ears, allover the head, neck and even back sometimes). I do not feel that everyday sounds are louder than they actually are anymore but I still have mild pain and hear my tinnitus. I want to ask is it a good sign that my tinnitus is turning more and more into a gentle hissing sound. Other different tinnitus sounds like firecrackers in the distance, the whooshing sound etc. are slowly becoming more and more quiet. I feel that soon my main sound would be similar to an old TV signal, or a gentle hiss, something like that. Is it a good sign to have such changes? Also, I've reached the phase when I usually do not hear my tinnitus outside but noisy traffic and especially motorcycles are still a problem for me so I plug my ears with professional musician's earplugs.

 

You will. I remember this exact feeling – for a few months there I barely recognised myself, and I didn't know how to connect to my old life any more.

I remember as I started to slowly get back to my life I went to an exercise class that I used to really enjoy, and I could hardly keep from crying. That little glimpse of normality was overwhelming for me. I was standing in a room of "normal" people and I couldn't imagine ever feeling normal ever again.

Seems weird now, a year later, that I ever felt like that. The "I don't feel like myself" thing is temporary, and won't last more than a few months. Seriously. Eventually you remember that life is still there for the living, and you are still you.

Lizzy
Xxx

 

Hey, I am glad you are doing better! May I ask how many hours of pink noise you listen to a day?

 

@tbuzz89 Just found this and could have written it myself (except I haven’t had any quieter days yet). The music part really hit home yesterday. Yes, I can hear music just fine but it’s accompanied with the piercing hiss. It occurred to me that I may never hear a song again without the intrusive tinnitus and it made me sad and angry. I am still hoping and praying this will go away. So hard to accept. I am such a positive person usually but this is difficult to cope with. I hope we both see improvements soon!!

 

Hi Serendipity,

Would you be open to speaking about your experience a bit more? I am three weeks into something very similar for the first time, and the reactive tinnitus / distortion thing is so rare I am trying to seek out the very few people who have gone through the same thing.

If not no worries!

Gordon

 

Of course!

In my case, I suffered a setback at the end of last year so I'm about 8 months in now... and definitely substantially improved. Not totally out of the woods yet but I had all sorts of weird and scary symptoms such as facial numbness and pain in response to sounds and also in silence - this has all but gone and doesn't even react to artificial audio any longer. With regards to the distortion etc, I still have some issues with artificial audio sounding quite 'sharp' but again this has improved. For example, I used to find the creaking of a door unpleasant and very high-frequency - this is no longer an issue. I'm now having good weeks and the bad days are less frequent.

There's still a fair bit of up and down but I find the good days are outnumbering the bad - I also find the good days tend to be some of the best I've had, whereas the bad days, whilst deflating, don't tend to regress past a certain point. I've been having a few days of slight ear tenderness but it's quite mild so I've just accepted it's part of the ebb and flow of this condition. The general trend is the most important thing.

 

That's great to hear! Someone else said the same thing - that we can't measure progress day by day but rather weekly or monthly given the healing time. May I ask, did any of your distortions completely go away? That's currently the hardest thing for me to deal with by far - multiple times worse than the tinnitus. I have no hyperacusis currently which I am thankful for as well.

Really appreciate you sharing!

 

I'm still not 100% but the tinnitus, hyperacusis, distortions, and reactivity have all improved significantly. I think for most people the distortions do tend to improve. Try keeping a diary so you can track your progress - day to day it can be really hard to see improvement. I've also found that improvement tends to come in fits and bursts - I'll have a month or so of steady gradual improvement but then I'll have a week of quite dramatic improvement.

 

Also suffering distortions and praying they improve. They are worse than my tinnitus on some days...

Glad to hear you have made a large recovery!

 

My audiologist recommended not to do this for some reason.

 

@Zaccq

Tracking progress using a diary may suit some people others is may not. It can make a person focus more on the tinnitus and hyperacusis and it's possible this can induce stress especially in the early stages which you are in, as they are known to fluctuate a lot. You may have a few good days then suddenly things change that can cause worry.

Although on your Avatar is reads cause of tinnitus unknown, this is not usually the case especially if you have hyperacusis, or an oversensitivity to sound which is an indication of noise induced tinnitus. Prior to the onset of the tinnitus, if you were a frequent user of headphones, earbuds, headset or listened to loud music in the car, home or attended clubs, concerts regularly then your tinnitus is probably noise induced. If this is the cause then you might find my posts in the links below helpful.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/

 

@Michael Leigh, thanks.

Actually, I write in my avatar as "unknown" because for me, there is possibly a number of causes and I don't really know which one it is. My audiology report was okay, not perfect, but they said I had good hearing (0-15dB) to 14kHz.

This is the first serious "spike" I've had, it's hard to understand what caused it to spike. It does appear to be improving.

The spike could because of noise trauma, ototoxicity, ear infection, TMJ, or stress. My thoughts change on this frequently.

But rather than mislead people, I have put "unknown".

Absolutely, I think that years of noise trauma has had a role, and I think my Doctor and Audiologist agree on that.

Currently I am trying to focus on improvement.

 

@Zaccq

Many people with tinnitus have a good audiology report with no hearing loss including me.

A spike is usually caused by sound or exposure to it and the sound doesn't have to be loud. From what you have described and based on my experience with noise induced tinnitus and hyperacusis, I believe this is what you have. Noise induced tinnitus is one of the most common causes of the condition.

Please follow the advice in my posts and things will hopefully improve with time. My advice is not to use any type of headphones even at low volumes.

Michael

 

Will do, thanks.

 

That's so odd. For some people it could perhaps mean they're overly focused on it but I have seen improvement over the past 2 months of keeping one.

 

@Coffeebean where did you get the custom ear plugs? I need some! Do they really work at protecting your ears well?

 

If you actually improve it’s not an issue - I think people recommend not keeping one because many don’t improve and it can be disheartening, and it also makes habituation harder as you’re expectantly searching for silence instead of becoming accustomed to the demon in your head. Proponents of habituation want you to forget about silence.

It all comes down to whether you believe habituation is a path worth taking or not. For me personally, my tinnitus / distortion is so intrusively high pitched, habituation seems akin to a lobotomy, but your mileage may vary...

 

Did this change for you? I have the same thing - little blips or pings of noise constantly overlayed over what I’m hearing.

 

How are you doing Michael? I noticed this post was from 2018.

 

I am still doing okay and managing my tinnitus quite well. How are you doing since the onset of your tinnitus 2017?

 

Glad yours is doing well. Mine has been very low level for the last 3 years. So much so that I don't see it mentioned but one time in any of my journals. I was living life normally, thinking it may disappear over time. Recently, in quarantine I was under great stress with homeschooling and living with 2 loud family members and a loud dog for 7 months. One day, about a month ago I noticed high pitched changes. The tinnitus was louder and very noticeable. I've had some headaches, nausea, ear pain and anxiety. I thought I had an ear infection so I went to the ENT, he said nope clear and wanted to fit me with hearing aids with maskers. He said I have mild hearing loss in one ear. My ears feel like there's some pressure and sound seems muffled.

 

I am pleased to hear that things have improved for you and hope this continues.
Take care

Michael

 

I've been suffering from noise-induced hyperacusis and tinnitus for about 3 months.
After how many months did the ringing sound begin to fade?