What is Sound sensitivity (Hyperacusis)?

It is a hearing disorder that makes it difficult to deal with everyday sounds. They may be unbearably loud even though people around you though people around you don’t notice them. Triggers include a running faucet, kitchen appliances, a lawnmower, or a loud conversation.

Most of those affected have moderate to severe symptoms that can lead to loss of balance, anger, and insomnia.  

  Some people who have this disorder are mildly bothered. Hyperacusis is rare. It affects 1 in 50,000 people. It is a hearing disorder. Those who have it have tinnitus (buzzing or ringing in the ears). It is also a hearing disorder.

People are not typically born with it. It is due to head trauma, a viral infection, TMJ disease, Lyme disease, Tay Sachs, disease, migraine headaches, epilepsy, Menier’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression.

Triggers include trauma to the head, viral infection, TMJ disorder, medications, drug disease, Lyme disease, Tay Sachs Disease, migraine headache, epilepsy, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Meniere’s disease, and loud, sudden noises.  

Treatment includes sound desensitization. Another treatment would be to purchase hearing aids that are set for low volume will help. In addition, try to gradually build up your exposure to noises. Other treatments include acupuncture and auditory integration therapy.

The word “hyperacusis” means excess hearing. The name combines the Greek prefix “hyper,” which means “over,” implying excess or exaggeration. 

It is a life-altering hearing condition that causes one to experience loudness, intolerance or increased sensitivity to noise. It’s a condition that someone is not born with but develops, either gradually or suddenly, as a result of the following causes.

These include injury, ear head trauma, Lyme Disease, airbag deployment, viral infections, Bells Palsy, and viral infections involving the inner ear or facial nerve.

It affects an estimated one in 50,000 people and can occur either unilaterally (in one ear) or bilaterally (in both ears). Reactions to noise may result in feelings of discomfort, covering ears, tension, anger, anxiety, and pain.

Those who live with hyperacusis face aversion to everyday sounds at decibel levels that do not bother others, such as running water, car engines, conversations, kitchen appliances, voices speaking on the telephone, bicycle pedals, crunching leaves, and vacuum cleaners.

Because individuals with hyperacusis are not able to tolerate noises like those listed above, their quality of life is compromised. They experience great difficulty in moving about, traveling, and communicating with others. Consequences can include social isolation, anxiety, depression, lack of concentration, and insomnia.

It is distinct from tinnitus, s (ringing in the ears), but there is a high degree of comorbidity between them. An estimated 86% of hyperacusis patients also have tinnitus and 30–40% of tinnitus patients also show symptoms of hyperacusis. It has been speculated that tinnitus and hyperacusis have a shared etiology or might exist due to the same pathological mechanism.

Sources: American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery; Hyperacusis Network; National Health Service; Frontiers in Neurology