Sensitivity to Sound — Particularly YouTube Videos — I Hear Things Much Louder Than Previously

After an unexplained spike of tinnitus, I've noticed that I'm far more sensitive to sound, particularly YouTube videos. It doesn't hurt my ears if I watch videos at a high volume, but I hear things much louder than I did previously (e.g., an average video at 40 percent volume now feels like 80 percent).

Household sounds don't affect me, but videos and music are a lot less tolerable now.

I don't want to abuse ear protection and become even more sensitive to regular sound, but I also really want to rid myself of this feeling. Has anyone gone through this/got any advice?

 

Yeah going through it now, it’s probably digital audio causing issues. I would reduce these or remove these types of sounds. I got worse from them. Allow your ears to rest and just try and be positive. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the advice. Have you dealt with this sort of thing before? If you have, how long do you suggest your ears should rest for?

 

I don’t know. I just joined the “silence“ club. My ears just couldn’t take noise anymore after exposing for a year to sound therapy and outside noises.

 

My tinnitus is quite 'reactive' just now .

However, I'm keen to do hyperacusis desensitisation.

It's a good question that is being asked. Should/can TV listening be part of hyperacusis desensitisation if it's hurting your ears? Digital sound is a problem for some of us.

Should we simply have the TV volume down low or even ultra low and work with that for a period of time until some level of tolerance is established?

Two weeks ago I turned on the sound on my TV at 1%, then a week later raised it to 2%. At this 2% volume after around an hour of watching, I noticed it was unsettling my tinnitus. Is it better to push on and take this temporary increase in tinnitus with the goal of desensitising the hyperacusis?

Or will this worsen the hyperacusis and/or tinnitus?

Should sound through loudspeakers be avoided for a long time until... what?

I've read that "exposure therapy is the only way to recover."

 

I would not push through it. Me and countless others have listened to that advice and we only got much, much worse.

Recent research on hyperacusis has shown that old beliefs are incorrect. There are more subsections to hyperacusis than previously thought.

Everyone is different so you need to find out what works for you. If you turn the sound back down when you feel uncomfortable or in pain then you can always try it louder again tomorrow.

But if you keep going, you might cause permanent damage and have a lower baseline, @Jupiterman.

Sound therapy is good though, just need to be careful.

 

I’m going to let natural outside noise be my sound therapy lol.

 

I'm letting the sound of my fridge be my sound therapy now. It's so difficult to choose what level of sound is ok for you. I'm gonna be extra careful this time.

 

I agree with one of the commenters who said the issue is probably digital music. Specifically, I would imagine that high audio file compression (standard fare on so much digital media) coupled with laptop or phone speakers, is the twin offender.

Recognizing that it's not always an easy/inexpensive fix, if you can find an analog receiver and speakers to run your media through - and especially if you steer clear of DIY streams - you'll may be able to tolerate a lot more listening.

I know I'm late to this thread, and am curious to know if you've seen any improvement since your original post.

 

Artificial audio is always bad for us. I can tolerate normal 60-70 dB noises but i cannot tolerate 40 dB artificial audio.

 

Was it Dan Malcore and his lackeys @ the Hyperacusis Network? Take it with a grain of salt.

 

I do not know that person but I get the gist.

I'm currently listening to TV at 3% volume for 12 hours per day. It is barely audible and isn't possible to make out what is being said.

I accept it's a risk but choosing silence may also be a risk too.

 

I'm always confused by the 'hearing things louder'.

I have hyperacusis but I don't perceive noises as being louder.

Is it perhaps recruitment that you are experiencing?

 

Hello @Lila M.

Please read my and @Michael Leigh's posts regarding sound sensitivity.

I have gradually introduced sound and I have worked on the phone throughout. I am now driving locally and going to supermarkets.

It takes time, a lot of time and patience.

Sending hugs x

 

How has it been using the sound generators? I'm supposed to be getting them from the NHS for my hyperacusis.

Did you find they helped with sound tolerance?

Trying to wean myself off my filtered earplugs in order not to make things worse. I'm going to the supermarket etc but things still seem loud or I'm perceiving them louder because of anxiety.

 

Wearable sound generators are very good for treating tinnitus and hyperacusis. For best result they should be used in conjunction with regular counselling. Hopefully you will be able to get this from your audiologist/hearing therapist on the NHS.

Click on the link below and read my post on a thread to a forum member about white noise generators:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/668968/

Michael

 

@Strawberryblonde, keep in mind that sound generators do not treat tinnitus in any way, and have made some people's tinnitus and hyperacusis reactive and catastrophically worse (due to blasting sound constantly directly into the ear). So be wary.

 

Glad that I've stumbled on this thread.

I'm no good as a techie, I get a great kick out of YouTube videos -- or I used to but I had to give it all up -- and TV too as it drove up my tinnitus and hyperacusis each time I spent some time with it...

But to my question to all you techie experts out there and you acoustic people:

Suppose one was to install an equalizer...

{Now what the procedure for this is, I don't have a clue, but it must come down to a series of simple steps}.

You know, you could, I hope, eliminate the offending frequencies from the broadcast or the sound stream and enjoy the entertainment as before... or so my theory goes.

@10Kcd above in post #9 seems to have a good suggestion about installing an analogue receiver. Would this work for TV too? Or would I have to look for an old-fashioned analogue TV set?

 

Wow, that is so interesting! I got hyperacusis from watching series on my laptop on an average volume of 45 dB. So that would not be enough to cause hyperacusis - or so I thought. I guess no more Netflix for me. But that really explains it! I hope I will recover soon.

 

Hi everyone,

When I first wrote this, it was after I'd been listening to a lot of music on Spotify to try and 'power through' ear sensitivity (I say ear sensitivity because I don't think it's severe enough to be classed as hyperacusis). In the months since, I've come to realise that the only sound that causes me ear pain is digital music.

Like, I'll be totally fine all day, but the moment I try to listen to my Spotify playlist, the pain will come back - pricks of ear pain and moderate headaches. But weirdly enough, YouTube videos (even ones with quiet background music) are fine. It's like my ears are allergic to Spotify! But I'm happy to know exactly which trigger to avoid to keep the aches at bay.

I'm probably not going to come back to this thread unless my triggers change again, but thank you to everyone who replied. Your advice helped me through a stressful time in my life.

TL;DR: My ear sensitivity is only triggered by digital music now, but now YouTube videos and TV shows are fine for me as long as they're at reasonable volumes.

 

@Lila M, I hope you continue to feel better. Your thread has been helpful to me, as I also get terrible spikes from certain kinds of noises coming from my computer, and I didn't know why.

For what it's worth, I just happened to see a blog entry by actor / writer Wil Wheaton where he says he prefers Apple over Spotify. He is not a hyperacusis or tinnitus sufferer, just a music aficionado, but I thought it was interesting that he believes Spotify compresses music too much, creating an inferior experience for the listener. I wonder if people on this board have noticed their symptoms are worse from listening to Spotify vs. Apple or other platforms?

This is the blog post:

buy the ticket, take your turn – WIL WHEATON dot NET

But the only relevant portion is toward the very bottom, where he says this: