Will Extreme Sensitivity to Sound Ever Go Away?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man wrote:
I have extreme sensitivity in my hearing and some distortion as well. My ears buzz slightly to my own voice and others that have a deep tone in their voice. I believe this was sound-induced from my iPod and loud video gaming with head phones. My hearing is good except most everything with a high frequency hurts my ears and causes me distress. I have had this for a month and a half. Do you think it is permanent?
I think your extreme sensitivity to high frequency sounds will slowly go away if you protect your ears from louder sounds from now on. It may never completely go away, but it should be a lot better given enough time.
Very often exposing your ears to loud sounds results in damage to your ears such that you now perceive some sounds as being much too loud—in your case, the high-frequency sounds. This is called hyperacusis.
The problem can result from just one loud sound, but the “fix” often takes several months. It is generally a slow process. Think of it like a sprain—you get it in one sudden wrench—but healing takes weeks or months—slowly getting better. However, if during this time, if you wrench it again, you have to start all over again.
Your ears are the same way. That is why you must be so careful not to expose your ears to those damaging levels of sound again. Wear ear protectors in such situations if you can’t turn the sound down.
At the same time, don’t overprotect your ears by wearing ear protectors all the time, or you can make the situation even worse. I can’t emphasize this enough. Your ears need adequate sounds reaching them all the time to keep your hyperacusis under control—just not too loud.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
i am 5 months with hearing loss due to a concert. very down over it. any body get their hearing back after a 6 or 9 month wait? i am always hoping but not a lucky guy at all1
December 20th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Hi David:
It is very unlikely, barring a miracle, that you will get your hearing back if it has now been 5 months and it hasn’t returned.
Typically loud sounds produce an abundance of free radicals in your inner ears which “zap” the hair cells. When these hair cells die, you lose some of your hearing. This hearing loss is permanent.
If perchance, the loud sounds dislocated the tiny bones in your middle ears, then an ear specialist could likely repair the damage.
The easy way to tell is this. If your hearing results on your audiogram show only a sensorineural hearing loss, you hearing loss is almost certainly permanent. However, if it shows a conductive loss, an ear specialist could likely fix it.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
It is possible to get much better or even cured from hyperacusis ! TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) is probably the best treatment. In TRT you wear a sound-generator for many hours a day. It looks like a hearing-aid.
A cheaper method is to listen to pink noise at a soft level many hours a day.
A third alternative is to listen to a CD, (music of your own choise), every day, a bit louder than comfortable, but not so loud that you suffer.
I have had an extreem level of hyperacusis twice and have got much better from all three methods.
The Hyperacusis Network has a list of where to get TRT worldwide, and they sell pink noise-CD`s.
March 10th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
I suffered through fire alarm testing in our plant for an hour. It has left me with tinnitus constantly like a million crickets chirping, highly sensitive to high frequnecies and loud noises (have to take earplugs with me all day and night). These sounds can and have caused great pain and migraines. I have had tinnitus, shaking of arms and legs, severe earaches, vetigo / dizzyness and loss of balance (like walking like one is drunk). I can no longer multitask and at times start to stutter. I have never had any of this prior to this fire alarm testing which has been 5 months ago. I have gone through all sorts of testing and no tumors or anything can be physically found. I read about “recruitment” and all the symtoms are the same. I have tried Cds of music at night of low sounds to try defusing the tinnitus at night to be able to sleep. I carry earplugs with me going to resturants and to stores. The noises there can just about cause me to come out of my skin and cause migraines to start.
What really bugs me is I have only hearing in one ear all of my life. Now that is screwed up now and I feel that this has caused 180o change in my life. I don’t dare run or move fast for fear of losing balance. I have been using a cane (prior to that was a walker because the shaking in my legs was so bad) to try to balance when walking.
I was very active and now I can not work because of the above problems.
What now can I expect with this “recruitment”?
March 14th, 2012 at 9:40 am
Hi Pat:
Your story illustrates the fact that you have to protect your ears when around loud sounds. You don’t have to put up with loud fire alarms for one hour. That’s dangerous to your ears as you have unfortunately found out.
When a sound is too loud, you either need to wear ear protectors–the foam ones you can get at almost any drugstore are fine, or get out.
Once the extreme sensitivity to sound happens, it takes a lot of time and patience to get past it. This can take several months or longer–so don’t expect a quick fix.
I think it is rather unusual to have your balance so (permanently) affected by the noise. I’m not sure whether your balance system was permanently affected by the trauma of the sound (free radicals generated that destroyed balance hair cells for example)or whether you have a condition such as Tulio’s Phenomenon that causes loud sounds to affect balance, or whether something else is going on.
Regards
Neil