there's very little to read about hyperacousis on the net (or anywhere at all for that matter).
there's a lot more to be found about tinnitus, for example
about 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with hyperacousis by an earspecialist.
it started with me hearing all kinds of stuff louder. or at least, it seemed louder to me.
basically I was hearing all kinds of stuff I didn't hear before, and other normal noises seemed a lot louder and/or irritating or even slightly painful.
suddenly, I could hear a dog barking many blocks away.
or I would hear the ticking of a clock a lot louder than before.
And cars would seem to make so much noise, even if I was inside a house in a quiet neighbourhood.
All little details, but it was driving me mad.
Plus if I was trying to sleep I had the feeling my ear that was turned on the bed (at the side of my head that I was resting on) was hurting, like it got too much pressure on it.
Basically my natural reflex was to stay inside as much as possible and wear headphones all the time to shut the noisy outside world out.
My dr back then was very fast and accurate (it seems) with his diagnose.
He told me it would be very wrong to shut myself out, that it would only mean I'd simply never be able to adjust to noise again if I started doing that all the time. He just told me to try and find a middle way, so that noise in general wouldn't drive me crazy but I'd still be able to live with general outside noise.
Also, he claimed that the whole hyperacousis thing is all in your brain, not in your ears. He said that normally everyone hears all these noises, but the brain filters this out with normal people, so that it doesn't bother them.
But if you suffer from hyperacousis, your brain fails to filter all that noise out, or at least some parts of it.
I'm no specialist at all, but I honestly think this would be an accurate cause if Ithink about how I've experienced hyperacousis over the years.
It never got worse than the first few weeks I had this, but it never went away completely.
I can't focus and make it go away, or anything. there's no magical trick.
but some days it's a lot more present than others.
as we speak there's a clock at approx 6 meters away from me, and I can very clearly hear the clicking all night long.
Sometimes this extra hearing comes in handy.
I remember when I was in front of a classroom once and some students were whispering to each other and I jumped into the coversation to demonstrate I could hear everything they just said. You should've seen their faces...
And sometimes it's useful for making music, I guess.
But most of the times it's just a bit of a handicap, be it a mild one that I've learned to embrace.
It's harder for me to focus when there's a lot of noise around me.
I have been working nightshifts for about 8 years now, and I'm really happy with the peace and quietness it brings.
If I walk in and the evening shift is crowded and loud, it gets on my nerves.
If I get on the crowded bus in the morning, I hide under my headphones and put on the music.
(I HATE hearing other peoples music in a bus or train)
thank god I take the train in opposite directions with the morning crowd, so I always have my peace and quiet there.
Obviously I have closed headphones for on the bus/train, even though I really prefer open or half open whenever possible. This is cause closed ones give me the "too much pressure" feeling I described earlier.
But I fear the day I decide the nightlife has been enough and I have to go to work on a crowded bus/train every morning.
I've got a 2 year old and a babbly mrs at home, and both of them talk the ears of my head, so it's not so much that I can't stand normal sound, it's just that I prefer no more noise than needed.
Sometimes it's very selective about what I can stand and what not.
For instance, if I pick up my daughter from the kindergarden and I'm inside for a few minutes, the noise of all the kids never bothers me. But if I'm outside where it's a lot more quiet since it's a calm street, just a single car passing can get on my nerves.
btw, I'm interested in getting earplugs.
any advice on those by some happy users ?
thx !
like one or two hairs out of my ears...)