Hyperacusis is a medical condition wherein the person’s tolerance for normal sound in his environment is lowered. This lowered tolerance is manifested by the person’s sensitivity to otherwise normal sounds in his surroundings. As a result, he feels as if the whole world is screaming at him. The dripping of water in the faucet, a child crooning to himself, a radio playing from a distance, car horns from the road outside – all these sounds are perceived by the person with hyperacusis as loud and blaring.
The bad thing about having hyperacusis is that the person has no way of “turning the sounds off." Hyperacusis is a chronic disorder and tends to come and go. People who suffer from hyperacusis may also tend to suffer from tinnitus. Tinnitus is the ringing that you hear in your ears. However, hyperacusis may occur in people who have no other hearing problems.
So what can you do to if you have hyperacusis? Sad to say, but the progression of this disease is quite unpredictable. As of now, the only sure thing that researchers know is that exposure to loud noises contributes to the progression of the disease.
Pink noise and white noise are commonly used to treat patients. They are quite similar to each other although for pink noise, the sounds with lower frequencies are louder than those with higher frequencies. On the other hand white noise has the same amplitude for all frequencies. The importance of these two types of noise is that they increase the tolerance for the normal range of noise that we hear everyday.
There are some therapy regimens that patients with hyperacusis can go through. One such therapy is the use of special hearing aids for several hours a day. These special gadgets work by desensitizing the ears to sound. This treatment is called Tinnitus (Hyperacusis)Retraining Therapy or TRT. Another way to treat hyperacusis is to listen to a pink noise CD. This also serves to desensitize the ears to sound.
Though these procedures have proven to be successful in helping many people suffering from hyperacusis, they are not considered as cures. The best course to take when you suddenly find yourself suffering from “loud" noises is to visit your healthcare professional as they can better determine your specific needs.