Permanent Setback in My Hyperacusis Following a Funeral and Fireworks?

Hello all,

After having tinnitus and TMJ problems since May 2017 and dealing with those (some days better than other), I started experiencing - at least, that's what I think - mild hyperacusis in September 2019. I don't know what started it; all I know is that even mild hyperacusis was terrifying. Fortunately it improved a lot and didn't bother me that much anymore until December.

In December I had to go to a funeral, whereafter you could have a drink and chat with people. There were a lot of people and when I think of it, the music was probably quite loud. It didn't bother me at the time, since my sound sensitivity was almost gone. So I didn't wear earplugs. Also, my head was somewhere else so to speak since it was a funeral of a dear ex co-worker. After this, I had some sort of delayed reaction the days after, as I kept feeling worse and worse everyday with an increased sound sensitivity and foremost lots of pressure/pain in my face, especially around my jaw and temples (maybe related to my jaw problems). This improved a bit in the two weeks following but then New Year's Eve hit. There were a lot of fireworks, and even though I was inside my home (so didn't wear earplugs), I think this caused my second setback as in the days after my symptoms got even worse than before.

Right now, I'm left in despair and kind of feeling like I jinxed it, because I was doing so much better and then these two things happened. I'm hoping somebody can give me some reassurance, that it's possible to get better from this point on.

 

Hi,

I've suffered from tinnitus for a number of years now, and in the past few years I have also been dealing with a mild form of hyperacusis. The first 'episode' occurred about 3.5 years ago during the summer of 2016. Regarding the nature of my hyperacusis, it tends to come and go - almost always the cuplrit is noise exposure if it flares up although similarly there can be a delayed reaction. The good news is that I've never experienced a permanent worsening of my symptoms and things usually resolve within a few days -weeks. I know how stressful it feels but your best bet is to just take it easy, use common sense, try and avoid excessive noise exposure, use plugs when you have to etc but try not to let paranoia take over. Just listen to your body.

My general impression is that the vast majority of hyperacusis cases improve or remain stable as opposed to drastically worsening. I remember how utterly terrifying and anxiety-inducing I found it when I initially came across horror stories of people whose entire lives had been derailed by this but bear in mind that this is a slim minority. As long as you are relatively cautious with your ears I am confident that things will get better soon. There are many success stories to be found here on this forum which is encouraging!

 

Hi @lauracolle -- I recently had some dental work, with some drilling sounds spiking my tinnitus for a couple weeks or so. My experience sounds worse than what you describe about your two recent events. Since your events seem fairly moderate, I'd say your chances of this improving in the weeks ahead are quite good. Just be sure to be extra careful for a while. -- All the Best...

 

You have a good chance of recovering I think, overall I don’t think the funeral could have been more than like 80 or 85 decibels and inside the fireworks wouldn’t be super damagingly loud either. Just bring ear plugs with you out in case you’re exposed to loud noises and try to stay calm as possible, I think with time you’ll feel better again!

 

I have had severe hyperacusis. At the initial stages of hyperacusis there is a good chance of it recovering, or getting better, in a few days or weeks, typically in around 10 days you should be fine; recovering does not mean disappearing, only getting back to baseline. If exposed to loud noise close by, you can look at a "recovery" period, or lets say coming back to baseline, in around 3 weeks. If you had very bad hyperacusis and were exposed to noise that could damage anyone (normal ears) then we could be looking at 6 to 10 weeks. This is just to give you an idea that hearing goes stable again extremely slowly, so you shouldnt fall into despair.

Also, the reaction you get depend on time of exposure. So for instance being 1 hour at the funeral gathering may be less painful and less hard on your hearing that going outside home and being exposed by accident to some very loud sound (power tool, fireworks, cars honking, loud motorbike..) for like 10 second. And this is because at a gathering, a restaurant, a cafe, things can be quiet and then progressively, they get louder, and your hearing has time to adjust, whereas in the case of impulse noise (explosion) our hearing cannot cope and the damage is just done in a second.

 

I hope Juan is correct.... can deal with screaming tinnitus, done that for years...
but the constant chronic pain around the ear (in silence) and then the sharp pains from the loud noises is the most troublesome for me.. .this has gotten worse in 2 months.

Can someone point me to the best thread of how to train away the hyperacusis, if possible?
This site has a zillion threads... maybe someone has a better idea where to look?

Thanks

 

How is your hyperacusis doing right now?

 

The same unfortunately... thank you for asking, hope you are doing well.