People with Dysacusis, Distortions or Loudness Hyperacusis — Describe Your Symptoms!

It looks like I am now dealing with dysacusis / some form of hyperacusis on top of my old hearing loss induced tinnitus (which doesn't bother me), and my new, somatic tinnitus (which I have somewhat habituated to, a month later).

About two weeks after I developed the somatic tinnitus, I started noticing some kind of... I don't know. Light, high pitched (but atonal?) fluttering, or crackling in my left ear. I also noticed that my left ear became somewhat reactive to loud noises. For example, my partner coughing in the same room would startle me.

As the days went by, I started becoming more sensitive to more sounds — things like fans, my microwave, or even music / pink noise at very low volume on my phone's speakers. So much for masking my tinnitus when I need to.

And for the past few days, I've become sensitive to pretty much all sounds. Even voices — my own included. At this point, I'm tempted to wear ear plugs all day long (I already do at night since my partner snores loudly). I don't feel like I'm hearing things louder so much as... I don't know, things sound more sharp? And slightly distorted too, maybe.

It's not that noises are painful, or that they spike my tinnitus. It's like the more I'm exposed to sounds throughout the day, the more irritated my ear (or brain?) becomes sensitive. And what is initially just a fluttering sound in the morning turns into a continuous, 3rd tinnitus and it can get extremely loud. Once it's started, it adds a really high-pitched distortion to every sound I hear.

Oddly enough, the shower helps even though it's loud — I'm not sure whether it's the sound or the heat relaxing my muscles, but it lowers that new sound and the reactivity a little for a short while. It also seems to somewhat reset overnight while I sleep.

I'm seeing the audiologist again next week to run more tests and determine if it's hyperacusis... I spoke to her on the phone yesterday and she seemed a little stumped. Said she would need to consult with her colleagues to get a better idea of what's happening to me. ENT appointment is in two weeks, although I'm not sure how helpful she can be with a case like this.

I've started doing physiotherapy two days ago since the audiologist suspected the somatic tinnitus was caused by TMJ. The physiotherapist seems more inclined to think it's more a cervical spine issue than (just) my jaw. So I'm doing exercises at home in the hopes it improves my situation.

Honestly, I'm feeling so hopeless, sad, depressed. And so scared. Just when I had started habituating to the somatic tinnitus, this happens. The only shred of hope I have is that this reactivity / 3rd tinnitus also seems somatic (it increases in volume when I clench my teeth) and muscle relaxants lower it a little.

I'm trying to use the benzos I was prescribed very sparingly so as to not become dependent on them, but it's hard to resist the temptation as they help with the tinnitus and reactivity. The only other thing that helped me relax was guided meditation... but now it's so irritating to listen to most sounds that I'd rather just avoid it. I do deep breathing exercises instead.

Is there any hope for a case like mine...? I'm trying to stay strong but it's so hard. I can't enjoy most of my favorite things anymore — movies, music, video games... Even reading and drawing, as I have a hard time focusing without background music. So it's getting hard to distract myself. Now I just feel bored, anxious and depressed all the time. I'm not... contemplating suicide but I really hope it doesn't come to that. I absolutely can't imagine living like this for the rest of my life, I'm only 30.

If you guys have any success stories to share, anything positive... I'm all ears. I don't have a lot to hold on to right now, and I feel so al0ne.

Thank you for reading.

 

You should avoid high-speed elevators or high-speed trains.
You should avoid even bending over, let alone lifting.
You should avoid any explosive or implosive barotrauma, you are saying yourself you get better when you don't exert yourself or don't expose yourself to very loud noise.

 

What's the deal with weight lifting and hyperacusis?
Because that is true.

 

Easier said than done.

My entire life and career is around loud noise. I have been wearing ear protection lately but it’s kind of hard to keep quiet when your dad owns it and wants to pass it on to you. And the gym I can never stop. I would feel even worse. I’m just not going heavy anymore. That’s what did it. It’s not fair, I feel horrible, I could work somewhere else for a while.

But I can never stop working out. There has to be a way.

 

Brian, haven't the distortions emerged after your acoustic trauma?
What happened with the CT scan?

I feel you man... really.

 

Although my tinnitus still spikes from certain noises, and my tinnitus is still debilitating, 6 months in I've definitely had a reduction/cessation in my dysacusis. For example, I remember at the start whenever I would hear a fan/airflow noise it would literally also produce a doooooooooo tone. That has been gone for some time now. If I exposed myself to loud noise again I'm sure it could come back, but living carefully it is no longer there.

 

No, actually the distortions happened from me dead lifting 445! I had normal ringing and hissing before, then that night the new beeping fluttering noise in my ears emerged.

No word from the doctor yet, they’re closed on the weekends. I hope I will hear from him on Monday.

 

Go figure...
This sounds puzzly asf!

How the heck can lifting weights affect ears? I know other people with hyperacusis that have reported worsening due to weight training.
I used to be a professional dancer. I have graduated from the national academy of my country.

During my first tinnitus years, while trying to keep dancing, even with super low-volume music (sucked big time), it spiked my tinnitus. Eventually I quit. In general I've noticed that exercising makes my symptoms worse.

Can somebody explain to me why?
Not being able to exercise, has skyrocketed my depression.

Fun fact:
Although I quit fundamental things of my life, I still ended up worse.
The epitome is the noxacusis that emerged lately.
There's no way I am going to make it.

 

If it's about any inner ear injury or inner ear condition that intracranial pressure elevation might cause or affect then it's not only about weight-lifting. It's about all kinds of excessive straining. Because for example once you had an implosive trauma (slap on the ear, loud blast, air travel or scuba diving barotrauma, high-speed elevator or high-speed train barotrauma or whatever) you should probably avoid explosive trauma, too (straining of any kind including weight lifting, but also bending over) and vice versa.

Excessive straining of any kind and bending over in a way your head is a lot lower than your heart level causes a sudden raise in ICP because more cerebrospinal fluid goes to the head. Temporary ICP elevation doesn't mean someone has intracranial hypertension (or any hypertension at all, it happens to people with low blood pressure too) and and it doesn't bother most people.

It might bother people who have an inner ear injury or condition, just like a loud noise or a high-speed elevator or air travel might bother someone whose inner ear injury was caused by straining or weightlifting. Some inner ear injuries or conditions might get worse from pressure coming both ways; explosive (from inside) or implosive (from outside).

Sometimes it might help to avoid caffeine and salt, too.

 

The real fix is an ENT taking you seriously and either surgery or a blood patch... because that shit is fixable.

 

Yeah true. It's just weird because I worked out for literally four years and my tinnitus never changed. It started getting worse when I started lifting over 450 pounds. I hope I didn't damage anything.

 

Are you sure you didn't have another noise injury recently?

 

I first started noticing it well before getting hyperacusis. Little sounds would sometimes sound a little auto tuned or distorted. It became gradually worse and now fluctuates after getting ear infection back in October 2020 which resulted in my hyperacusis manifesting itself.

 

Starting to think this is more and more a fistulae issue if it's worse shortly after working out or pressure changes, but no ENT will treat it without measured hearing loss.

 

Really? I got a CAT scan.

 

Nope. No noise at all?

 

But you work in a bike shop with exploding tires all the time. You may have cumulative ear damage from all that exposure. I hope I'm wrong and you have something that can be fixed though.

 

@Syb and others. Stay strong and give it time. I’m also in this boat unfortunately. The sound distortions hit me hardest when I’m in open areas like a large reception area or the beach. It’s almost as though my auditory system gives up with all of the low level sounds coming from different directions. I get a a sound like someone is blowing on the top of a pipe that overwhelms the other sounds. Lowering the external sound with earplugs helps reduce the distortion... it’s weird.

I so desperately want to hear with clarity again, particularly music. Currently I’m playing the waiting game, trying to distracting myself and hoping for the best.

 

No imaging can see a fistula.

 

So you don’t hear the distortion at all with earplugs?

 

I still get the distortions with earplugs but it’s not quite as severe. I suspect everyone’s experience is a bit different. For me the distortion seemed to be worse with more auditory input - both in the number of background noises and with increased volume. Thankfully I have been getting better. The distortions are there but they don’t seem to drown out the sound source anymore.

 

I wonder why I still have the distortions a year later while other people get better after a few months... I say this a lot but it's something I keep wondering about.

 

You had a virus and you were born with hearing loss. That virus probably caused permanent cochlear damage, so hopefully FX-322 will help you out. I know strongly how you feel, I wasn't born with hearing loss but at the age of 2 I had chemo that robbed me of more than half of my hearing. And to have the hearing I have left absolutely destroyed... it's just devastating.

 

Oh wow, I'm sorry man.

 

It could be. I hope not. Ever since I got had hyperacusis I have been wearing 33 dB earplugs. It’s kinda been helping. No explosions yet though. I’m screwed for working out, if I wear earplugs and work out it messes with my ears, if I don’t and somebody slams a weight, my hyperacusis and tinnitus gets worse. I don’t know if I can give up the gym. I have been working out since I was 13. I don’t know if I can live my life like some of those extreme hyperacusis people.

Watching those videos on YouTube of these guys who wear shooting muffs in their house! Never going out, stuck in the basement of their parents forever! That’s no way to live. I would rather be dead. I have never been a person to stay indoors, I have always been an extrovert. I’m scared guys. I can’t live like this. I just can’t.

I’m praying that it improves over time, or with my chiropractor because my c1 and c2 were all messed up. That can cause hypercausis, and tinnitus, he said.

 

Is it possible to get a home gym setup? Not a bad option during COVID-19. It also means you have control over the noise. Gyms have loud music and people drop weights.

Hang in there. We all have bad periods. When it feels overwhelming know that better days are coming.

 

Yeah I’m considering it. I figured out my sound distortions, hyperacusis, and typewriter tinnitus is caused from lifting heavy weights with earplugs in. Ever hear of that? I tried it last night and everything got much worse.

 

I don’t think that I have. Definitely consider the home gym and rest your ears. It’ll likely subside in the coming days.

 

This may seem dumb, but I wonder if it's blood pressure related? I've noticed my distortions/hyperacusis/morse code tinnitus gets significantly worse after I've done anything to make my blood pressure increase like stress, exercise, or eating something high in salt.

 

Could be that or CSF pressure. I get worse when lying down.