Hyperacusis.

[southall-1998]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Just out of curiosity, any members on here experienced this hearing problem?

Regards.

[Ali Tait]

I have a touch of it I think. I have difficulty following conversations in a busy pub, for example.

[jon1]

I have a touch of it I think. I have difficulty following conversations in a busy pub, for example.





Ali that's the drink:cool::D



jon

[Ali Tait]

Haha, aye maybe!

[DaveK]

I've had to Google it to find out what it means :scratch: and as I cannot stand loud music or continual loud noise in any environment I guess I may have a form of it.
Having also lost some ability to hear at both extremes of the sound spectrum, that can make getting the perfect volume a bit difficult at times :lol: .

[realysm42]

I don't know if I have this, but certain sounds are really uncomforatble for me to hear. I know it sounds silly, but sirens on emergency vehicles are almost physically painful to me, I can't bare them.

I've definitely got tinnitus in both ears, quite badly in my right ear. I can't follow any conversations when there's loud music/noise in the background atall.

Not good for a 27 year old, but I had fun earning the damage :D

[Pete The Cat]

Yes. AKA threshold shift. It's where the level of sound that your hearing defines as normal gets beaten down.

It happened to me after a gig about 18 months ago. I'd describe it as like having a hangover, in which even silence is bright, grainy and harsh. Sounds become like a 3D movie and leap out at you. At its worst I couldn't watch television or listen to any music. Every click, cough, knock, ring, tap (you get the idea) hurt. By day the hyperacusis was constantly irritating and by night the accompanying tinnitus kept me awake. If you look at the 'net you'll read about people who develop phonophobia, literally a fear of sound, as a result and from there depression and so on.

After about 6 months the frequencies that triggered irritation reduced a little and the pain diminished slightly, so that it would be poor for say two weeks then bearable for say 2 days. I was able to stop wearing earplugs for normal life. However colds set it back.

I currently wear white noise generators. They're soothing and are designed to get your ears used to sound again and so raise the threshold. I'm told that in another year things may improve. Today is a whole world better than when it started, because I can watch TV and listen to music at low volume, and normal home and work life doesn't require me to wear earplugs now. However I can't possibly be in a crowded pub or cinema and many louder noises are painful and distorted. Supermarkets and busy restaurants push my limit. I'll never go to a gig again and have to avoid any suggestion of loud parties etc.

It seems mine was partly triggered by background ENT and sinus problems, I had a predisposition that I didn't realise. Still, I'd still always encourage people to wear earplugs at gigs.

It's nasty. If you've got it it can take your life over and the 'net is full of negative stories. It seems to me that some healing can happen, but it will take months.

Pete

[realysm42]

Everytime I come back from a rave, even tapping my teeth together can make harsh loud ringing noises in my hearing that I know aren't "real". It fades after a day or two.

Sound like you've been through some shit there Pete!

Anyone here heard the Valve sound system? It's for drum and bass events, owned by Dillinja; the full rig is 96,000 watts. If you stand in the right place, when a tune drops it literally makes it hard to breathe as the air vibrates so hard, can't be good for hearing.

[snuffbox]

I've had hearing problems for years in that I could never follow conversations against noisy back grounds ,pubs, partys,etc.
It probably started for me when as a teenager I used to go full bore rifle shooting,in those days ear defenders were not considered necessary.
Throw in a few rock concerts and in later life gardening with power equipment(pastthirty years) although I always use ear defenders on the gardening.(horse/gate)
Tinnitus is a problem as well.

[Pete The Cat]

Everytime I come back from a rave, even tapping my teeth together can make harsh loud ringing noises in my hearing that I know aren't "real". It fades after a day or two..

Not that I'm medically qualified but I understand that the threshold shift can be temporary or permanent. My consultant told me that the temporary version usually fades within a week but can take as long as 30 days. If it happens you're advised to rest your ears, ie not go out and hammer them until they've recovered, and some sources recommend taking magnesium. White noise generators seem to be a relatively recent treatment and are showing some positive effect on people previously diagnosed as permanent.

Your comment about sirens sounds just like it. For me sirens and fire alarms are excruciating, and distorted (in fact another symptom is that sound is like having fluff on a stylus). Ironically your ability to hear is probably no worse, it's that it becomes over-sensitive to some frequencies. I can still listen very critically, just that it has to be quite low volume and not more than an hour or two a week, mostly on headphones because I can get the detail better at quiet levels.

I'm afraid I do preach a bit about earplugs now. You can get them very discreet and flesh coloured nowadays so you don't look daft (and you can be pretty sure that the guys on stage are wearing them). You still hear the sound well enough due to bone conduction. I've loved Motorhead to Leftfield and all points in-between but when the TS sticks life is miserable. Imagine when first thing in the morning every sound hurts - turning on the light, the splash of water, the click of the kettle, stirring the tea...

On a positive note I discovered http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.gray/ which is the website for Paul Gray (ex Eddie & The Hot Rods, Damned and UFO) who also suffers from Hyperacusis. Lots of great tales of life on the road with all those bands...

Pete

[Ali Tait]

I have never abused my ears, but have always been sensitive to some sounds, and have always been accused of having "bat" ears. I could walk down someone's driveway and have a good idea if they were in because I could hear the high pitched whine coming from their telly's transformer from 20 feet or more outside their house. A neighbour once bought an anti vermin ultrasonic thing, and it drove me nuts, I could hear it from three streets away, never mind when I was in the house. Luckily we were on good terms and he got rid of it when I explained what it was doing to me. Good job, otherwise I'd of had to move!

Yet I can't hear what someone standing two feet in front of me is saying in a noisy pub.

[snuffbox]

I believe there is condition where the hearing is all ok physically(the machinery works) but once the information gets to the brain and the processing bit everything goes pete tong or tits up.