The Perception of My Voice Is Changing — I'm Very Anxious

Hello. I have a condition that is getting worse and worse, and I am desperate to get help. I have tinnitus, but that is not what’s bothering me. The problem is that the sound of my own voice is changing.

It started with tinnitus back in 1997, when I was 15. The cause of it is unknown. It was not to loud and i learned to live with it. It increased a bit over time, and I avoided getting exposed to very loud sound, often by using earplugs. Then in early 2002, after been exposed to music that for normal ears wouldn’t be a problem, I noticed that something had happened with the sound from TV and stereo. It had become a bit «muffled», less open. I could hear a tiny different in other sounds to, like peoples voices, like the base was more prominent. I hoped that it would go away, but it didn’t.

This repeated it self over the next years. After new sound exposures, the perception of sound from TV etc became more distorted. The sensitivity increased, it took less and less volume for it to happen. Also a new phenomenon occurred. I started to feel a burning sensation in my ears after sound exposure, and a feeling of fullness. Such an «attack» could last for a few days or sometimes a week. When it occurred, my tinnitus also temporary got a bit more intense.

Late 2003 is when the problems really started. After a concert, I noticed that the perception of my voice had changed a little. It had lost some of its fullness and brightness. It troubled me a lot, and it made me withdraw a bit socially. I found it hard to be my self fully, and I became very conscious of and focused on my voice when i was speaking. My voice changed more and more over the years to come. It was extremely difficult, but I also managed to adjust to a certain degree if the time between the attacks was long enough. It felt like I regained some of my voice, or maybe I just got used to the change.

I had also back in 2002 been diagnosed with a mild asperger syndrome (this is questionable, I wasn't properly tested). I believed there could possibly be a connection, and I saw a doctor specialising in autism. He suggested I should start on a milk and gluten free diet, and i did. It actually helped a bit on my sensitivity to sound. I wanted to take it further, and started on a low carb diet as well. This had no further impact, so I tried to eat more normal again. This led to something completely unexpected: the food itself became a problem. Eating bread, sugar, potatoes and so on started to cause the same symptoms in my ears that sound did.

So now I had to stay on a diet to avoid my ears getting worse. Not exactly a development I had hoped for. I wasn't able to prevent «accidents» from time to time, so things gradually got worse. Sound had become a minor problem, I wasn’t as sensitive as before. Even if things got worse, I was good at adjusting, and I became relatively better at handling the change in my voice. As I already mentioned, at least it felt like I regained some of my voice over time. But it was still hard.

Then, last may or june, things suddenly started to escalate. I started having attacks without having eaten something I shouldn't. It kept coming more rapidly, and I could no longer control it with the diet. This has escalated even further. The last months my ears have been burning almost all the time, and I am losing more and more of my voice. It has a big impact on my social life. I just can’t be my self fully, and I feel that my personality is changing. If it’s some other food I’m reacting to, I have no idea what it is. Maybe I totally need to adjust my diet. Or maybe I need something else. I hope something can be done, It’s extremely frustrating the way things are now. I must not forget to mention that I have tested my hearing several times, and it always comes out normal. But something is definitely wrong inside my ears.

Have anyone had a similar experience? Do you know what it could be? I am very anxious and fear for the future. I have no more voice to lose. There are probably some more things I should have mentioned, but this has become to long already and I will stop here.

Thank you.

 

I don’t really have any answers but wanted to let you know that I read your story and am so sorry this is happening. We are here for you. Hopefully it’s just a food allergy thing and will go away. Could it also be environmental? Do you have any other allergies?

 

Thanks for the support. I'm hoping every day for it to go away, but it seem to be going in the wrong direction. I guess maybe it could be environmental, the thought has crossed my mind to. I will not give up on finding out about this or lose hope of getting better.